


Mismatch

by Lilly_Valens



Category: Cold Case
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-06-08
Updated: 2015-05-07
Packaged: 2017-11-07 06:52:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 33,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/428166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilly_Valens/pseuds/Lilly_Valens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Chris Lassing transfers out, Lilly Rush is less than impressed with Scotty Valens, her new partner. But not things are not as they seem and Lilly becomes tempted to break a commandment she set for herself back at the Academy. Canon for now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Cold Case or any of its characters. Absolutely no copyright infringement is intended!

Rubbing his red-rimmed, brown eyes, Chris "Lass" Lassing sighed as he spotted his partner, Lilly Rush. Bracing himself, Lass took a seat opposite Lilly at the small gray desk that served as a table in the break area of the Homicide floor.

Though the coffee she was sipping was ice-cold and strands of blonde hair drifted into her eyes, Lilly ignored Lass and kept her eyes directed on the day old copy of the _Philadelphia Daily News_ that she was leafing through.

"Come on, Lil, you gotta speak to me sometime. It's time you grew up and quit with the ice queen act."

Gritting her teeth as she flung her bangs over her left ear, Lilly's blue eyes flashed as she glared back at Lass. "I got nothing to say!"

"Bullshit, Lil! We've been partners for two years and now that I'm leaving Homicide you got nothing at all to say to me? Not even good-bye?"

Lilly sighed as her glare softened. "That's exactly why I got nothing to say to you!"

Leaning back in his chair, Lass began chewing on his lip. "Lil, I only found out I got the transfer to HIU last week. I was gonna tell you, but I was afraid this was how you'd react!"

"Great, Lass. You transfer back onto dayshift, leaving me and our cases in the lurch. Real class act you're doing!"

Lass took a deep breath as he hunched forward. "Lil, I don't got a choice. You know I had to take the past couple weeks off because I've not been feeling good. Anyway, when all is said and done, the doc says I need a more regular schedule that is easier on my body; the night shifts and long hours are killing me and throwing my diabetes out of whack!"

"Well, maybe if you quit smoking, your health problems wouldn't be so bad. Ya ever consider that Lass, huh?" Lilly enquired as she bolted down the rest of her coffee and slammed the mug on the table.

"It ain't just that, Lil."

"What, I'm not a good enough partner for 'ya or something?"

"Not that either." Lass sighed as he loosened his tie. "I found out a couple weeks ago Louise is pregnant and it made me realize I can't keep working here with a kid on the way. Louise and I have hardly seen each other since I got put in here. Louise is going to need me in the next few months and I want my kid to grow up knowing me, Lil."

"Do whatever you want, Lass! You always do!" Getting up from her seat, Lilly strode towards the safety of her desk, leaving Lass sitting open-mouthed and playing with Lilly's abandoned mug.

_Well, all things considered, Lil took that pretty good._

* * *

As the day faded into nighttime, goblins, vampires, witches and firefighters invaded Lilly's street and were delighted to find several bowls of candy up for grabs. The night being early, the kids practiced the honour system and only took the two pieces each Lilly's sign commanded.

* * *

The triple homicide from a month and a half earlier beginning to cool, Lilly sat at her desk. Vera's case notes were spread around her. As she went through Vera's witness statements and preliminary theories, Lilly clenched her fists. She knew it had been a mistake to let Vera pawn off his dog call on her and have him end up taking over this case.

It wasn't that Lilly regretted the course events had taken. If Vera hadn't been his usual lazy, son-of-a-bitch self, the spark for cold jobs never would have been set afire in Lilly's heart and five cases would still be sitting in the basement of Homicide with their cartons collecting dust.

Pulling his grey overcoat over his suit jacket, Lieutenant John Stillman sighed as he spotted Lilly still working away at her desk.

"Lil, don't you think it might be time to be heading home? You've been on since midnight."

Looking up for the scene report she was examining, Lilly widened her eyes at Stillman in disbelief. "Boss, this triple isn't going to solve itself; Vera sure as hell doesn't seem to be making any headway on it! And with Lass gone, OT is gonna be a fact of life for a while."

"Well, we won't be down a man too long," said Stillman as he took his glasses off and began to wipe them clean with a Kleenex. "We're getting a new guy over from West on Monday."

"What? They found somebody that fast?"

"Yeah, department began canvassing for a suitable replacement last week."

Lilly's eyes narrowed at Stillman. "Wait, you've known for a week that Lass is transferring out?"

"I've known for a couple weeks, Lil. Known that Lass was on his way out, I mean. He'd told me a few months back he was thinking about it, but that rough patch he's just had sealed the deal. I told Lass it would be best for him to tell you sooner rather than later, but he wanted me to keep it quiet until he knew for sure when he'd be able to transfer out. I had to respect his wishes; it was his call to make, not mine."

"Damn it! Am I the only one in the dark here?" Lilly demanded as she continued trying in vain to decipher Vera's sloppy case notes.

"No, Lil; I don't think Jeffries or Vera even know yet that Lass is gone. Far as they know, he's still on medical leave. Lass only came by today to pick up his things."

 _Terrific._ Lilly began pecking at her keyboard listlessly. "Well, now that that's over and done with, just who is this new guy we're getting, anyway?"

"Don't know much about him or his name, other than he's been with the force for five years. But there's a case he did some really good work on that has impressed the superiors," explained Stillman, putting his glasses back on and buttoning up his coat.

 _Even better. We lose a seasoned detective and I get partnered and saddled with a rookie. This will be a match made in heaven!_ Lilly's mouth hardened as she switched off her computer screen and left her desk to get some more caffeine.


	2. Dislike at First Sight

_The letters on her screen blending before her eyes, Lilly had finally relented to her Boss's wishes at midnight November 1st, heading home and looking forward to a long, hot bath with a good book from the pile of novels she had never gotten around to reading._

_Getting home, Lilly realized she should have stayed at the office. Rotten eggs dripped all over her front door, a note tacked over the mess._

_You chose trick, bitch! Enjoy breakfast!_

_Crumbling up the note, Lilly slammed the front door behind her and crawled into bed with her clothes on, deciding to deal with the mess the following morning. Sleep hitting fast, Lilly barely noticed her one-eyed cat Olivia curling up over her._

* * *

The shop on the corner. The favourite show one watches every Monday night. The things in life as familiar as a second skin that were never noticed until they disappear into the mists. The same could be said for partners, too.

Lilly had become used to heading out on calls on her own; Lass had now been gone a good three weeks and Vera had driven Lilly crazy enough the first week he'd gone around with her that she'd quickly requested to Stillman that he partner back up with Jeffries.

But like all things, being alone was getting old and as Lilly headed into Homicide early Monday morning, her black overcoat still on, she looked forward to meeting her new partner.

Seeing Lilly as he walked by, Will Jeffries, a husky, black detective, tossed over a quick, "Hey!" Lilly's way as he began to head to his desk.

"He here?" Lilly asked Jeffries, not bothering to return his greeting.

Turning around, Jeffries returned, "Room A!"

Shaking her head in confusion, Lilly asked, "Doing what?"

A broad, open mouthed smile spreading across his face, Jeffries shrugged and began chuckling.

 _What the hell?_ Lilly sighed and rolled her eyes as she headed for the observation room looking into room A.

Heading into where Jeffries had directed her, Lilly's irritation swelled tenfold when she saw Nick Vera, the chubby, constant-thorn-in-her-side.

Hands in his pockets as he shuffled from side to side, Vera gave Lilly a smirk as he stated, "Meet your new partner!"

Looking through the two-way glass, Lilly felt herself blush as she spotted the handsome Hispanic detective she was to be partnered with. For a moment, all Lilly could focus on were the finely contoured features she could make out from his side profile. This was a new experience. The older men she worked with were married or widowed and wouldn't have been Lilly's type even in their younger days. She and Lass had been the wonder kids of the department. Although she had loved being partnered with Lass, Lilly had never liked him beyond that; besides being married, Lass had always been too gaunt and pale for her liking. Lilly had always been terrified that the thin cornstalk of a man would one day blow away in a harsh Philadelphia ice wind.

Then Lilly shook her head and couldn't believe what she'd just been thinking. Taking in the wider picture, Lilly spotted the hot blonde dressed in skimpy clothing that the new detective was interviewing.

Lilly let out an irritated sigh as she began to pull off her overcoat. "Figured he'd make a good impression and bring his girlfriend to Headquarters his first day." _Who the hell does something like that?_

"He says she's an informant," explained Vera, not taking his eyes off the woman's chest.

"Really?" Lilly asked sarcastically as she flung her coat onto the table behind her, barely hearing the door to the room creak open.

"Fugitives has something interesting. Sherman picked up a guy in Virginia last night. Says he'll trade information on an old one," said Stillman, straining to read in the dim light the cue card he held in his hand.

Studying her partner as he continued to interrogate his "informant," Lilly shook her head as Stillman's words went in one ear and out the other.

"Should I break this up and bring in the new kid?" Lilly asked as she hit the intercom button so the gang could hear what was going on the other side of the glass.

"You give me what I need, I'll get you that steak dinner," a suave, deep voice stated.

"I know you will too, Scotty," the informant said, not able to get enough of the eyecandy in the room with her.

Scotty laughed and shot a smirk back at the girl. "Now get outta here. I'm working!"

As the slim young thing exited the room, Stillman began shaking his head in disbelief.

* * *

As the blonde slipped away from view, the new detective stared hard at the mirror lining one side of the room, as if trying to get a sense of who was gathered on the other side. Shaking his head, Scotty knew he had been watched. But he didn't care. Getting a transfer to Homicide so suddenly had meant a lot of loose ends at West he still had to tie up.

Coming into the observation room, Scotty offered the gang of detectives a warm grin. "Scotty Valens from West."

"Nick Vera. Congratulations," said Vera, giving Scotty a firm handshake.

"Thanks," said Scotty, shoving his hands in his pockets nervously. "Big leagues now, huh?"

"Yeah," offered Vera, trying to imagine the hot woman was still in the room in front of him.

Biting her lip, Lilly tried to remember what she had read on Scotty's profile over the weekend. "That Hammond job was some good work."

"Yeah, talk about a bag of bones, but I got an angle on it and I figured that's what got me to Homicide," said Scotty, clearing his throat as he turned away from Lilly's burning eyes.

"This is Detective Rush," said Stillman, nodding towards Lilly. "Her partner transferred out. You'll be working with her." Shifting his glance to Vera, Stillman gestured outside with his head.

"Yeah, good luck," muttered Vera, still upset the show was over as he tried to think of a way to get a few more minutes away from his desk.

"Uh, so you're Rush," muttered Scotty, offering his hand to Lilly as he licked his lips anxiously.

"Yeah, congratulations," said Lilly, returning Scotty's handshake and studying him more closely now that the two of them were alone together. Scotty's dark brown eyes burned through hers and Lilly's heart skipped a few beats she realized how incredibly attractive her new partner was. _Handsome as a Greek god._

"I, uh, pictured a guy," Scotty confessed as he finished shaking Lilly's hand, hoping his face didn't betray to Lilly how hot he thought she was. With a dainty frame and features like a porcelain doll, Scotty wondered how a girl like Lilly had ended up in Homicide.

 _Ah yes, that old misconception._ "You got the one girl in the joint," said Lilly as she snapped out of her ogling as her mind returned to business.

Scotty shrugged. _I don't care about that when you're this easy on the eyes._ "Yeah, okay."

Flinging her coat and handbag over her shoulder, Lilly shot Scotty a quick glance. "We got an interview in Fugitives."

"Cool. What's our angle?"

 _Our angle? You aren't jeopardizing my cases this fast, kid._ "Our angle is I talk, you listen."

His mouth dropping open, Scotty swallowed as he followed Lilly out of the observation room, wondering if this move over to Homicide might have been a mistake after all. Hadn't the Hammond job proven to this girl what he was capable of?

* * *

After nipping over to the coffee area for a cup of the strong black stuff, Lilly and Scotty wandered over the Fugitives area. In a stiff, gray plastic chair, a scruffy man in his forties dressed in a green jacket and jeans was fiddling with his hands nervously.

"Got something on a murder. What's that get me?" asked the man as he began studying the ground.

"Depends on what you did," said Lilly, slurping up the last few sips of her coffee.

"Ricky was a driver in a Fishtown drug shooting two months back," explained Gil Sherman, a seasoned officer with salt-and-pepper hair and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled back.

"I was driving a guy to a conversation. I didn't know he had a gun," muttered Ricky.

Letting out a snort, Scotty wandered behind Ricky's chair. "Don't tell lies, Ricky."

 _Damn kid can't even remember what I told him to do for five minutes!_ Lilly bit her lip as she shot a glare over Scotty's way. "Did Kite okay to making a deal?" Lilly asked Sherman, naming the district attorney who seemed hell-bent on making Homicide's search warrants as difficult as possible to obtain.

"Yeah," said Sherman, getting up from his desk and pacing over to Lilly. "Ricky's small time."

"Okay, what you got?" asked Lilly, looking at Ricky expectantly.

"High school girl. Got iced back in '81. It was big news, remember?"

 _That was a bit before I understood what murder was._ Lilly shook her head. "Remind me."

"Paige Pratt?" asked Ricky.

Looking to Sherman, that name did ring a bell in Lilly's mind. Turning back to Ricky as she swung her empty mug around, Lilly said, "Keep going."

Letting out a sigh, Ricky clenched his shaking hands. "Now, I ain't saying I saw the bullet leave the gun. But I did see something good. I was working at this auto repair shop back then. Had the keys, so I was gonna sneak in, but the owner's kid, Will, was already there. I popped open the door to the shop and saw him wiping out that old car of his. There was blood everywhere and Will dumped a bucket full of it down the drain. That's when I got my ass the hell out of there. When I heard the news the next day, I put it all together. Will Harrell must've of killed her."

Scotty snorted and began shaking his head. "You're trying to get a deal off of that?"

"It's good information!" Ricky mumbled, biting his lip.

"It's crap!"

"Valens!" shot Lilly. "Remember our angle." _What the hell are you trying to do here, kid? Turn a witness against us before we even know if his tip's any good?_

"Okay," Scotty muttered, wondering who this broad thought she was.

"She was…uh…sixteen years old?" Lilly asked Ricky, details of the case starting to reemerge in her memories.

"Yeah," said Ricky, remembering Paige the few times he'd been privileged enough to see her. "Real pretty. Track star. She had a future."

"Why didn't you say anything back then, Ricky?" asked Lilly.

Colour flooded Ricky's face. "I was…uh…going to the shop that night to steal some stuff. How could I explain that?"

"Um-hmm," murmured Lilly, nodding her head in understanding. "Okay, we'll check it out," said Lilly as she began to head away from Sherman's cramped worked space.

"Is this gonna get me out of hot water?" asked Ricky, hoping to stop Lilly's retreat.

Sherman shrugged at Ricky. "We'll see how this pans out."

With Lilly rapidly advancing away from him, Ricky blurted out, "But here's the other part."

_These guys never do tell us the whole story unless we play hardball._

"Someone else went down for this," explained Ricky, relieved Lilly was once again listening to him.

"Yeah?" asked Lilly, her interest in this snitch beginning to heighten.

"Yeah, some mope named Al Clarkson. He's doing life."

Stealing a quick glance at Scotty, Lilly knew her next stop would be. The dank, dusty basement of Headquarters' storage, where Paige's case would be one amongst hundreds of unsolved cold jobs.

* * *

"I just don't get it, Rush. Why the hell are we even looking at this? You can't trust that snitch for anything!" said Scotty as he and Lilly took the elevator and began to head down to the basement of Headquarters.

"Valens, we might have an innocent man rotting in jail for a crime he didn't commit. Yeah, there's the chance this Ricky character is just trying to get off the hook for the drug thing he was involved in, but we still gotta investigate. That's what we do here at Homicide. We don't shoot down a witness or suspect till we got all the evidence. You better start watching your mouth before you get into trouble with the boss." _Take my advice, kid, before you get yourself into hot water. Mouthing off isn't the way to get ahead in Homicide. What worked on the beat won't work here._

"Fine," Scotty mumbled as he stole at quick glance at Lilly. _Pretty you might be, Rush, but you're just like an iceberg. You don't got a shred of soul or compassion underneath all that ice._


	3. Threads of Comraderie

Reaching their destination at last, Lilly shot out of the elevator.

Scotty struggled to keep Lilly in his sights so he wouldn't get lost in the massive, warehouse-like facility that smelt of musty, wet cardboard.

As they headed down yet another alley of shelves piled high with white boxes, Scotty shook his head with disbelief. After finishing with the papers and evidence at West, he had handed the box to the office personnel, never giving a second thought as to where they ended up. To see the sole remnants of so many lives neatly filed away and forgotten sent a chill down Scotty's spine.

Lilly suddenly motioned with her left hand for Scotty to stop. "Well, this is it. We're at the P's. Now we just have to find Pratt…ah, here it is," Lilly murmured, pulling down the white box marked PRATT, P.

Scotty said nothing as he watched Lilly take a seat on the dirty ground and begin to root through the box. Thinking he would melt to the floor if something didn't happen soon, Scotty began brushing dust off the cardboard lids nearest him.

"Unsolved is upstairs; closed ones are down here," explained Lilly, shooting a quick look at Scotty. Sensing Scotty didn't care about what they were supposed to be doing, Lilly let out an inward sigh and began studying the crime scene photographs.

"Cold cases," Scotty muttered, letting out a snort as he tried to guesstimate just how many boxes were in the cool, dank basement. "I dunno, I like being out on the street."

"Paige died in a field near the Schuylkill River," Lilly murmured, entranced by the tall, pretty girl with long black hair that stared back at her from a high school year book photo.

Scotty ground his teeth. _Great, you lack listening skills, too._ "So what, uh, I work a few of these, then go out on the line?" Scotty asked, hoping Lilly would take the bait and confirm they wouldn't have to torment each other indefinitely.

"You act like this is the B assignment, Scotty," said Lilly, not taking her eyes away from Paige's picture.

Scotty quit his shuffling and shot Lilly a quick glare. _What's with the first name all of a sudden, huh, Rush?_ "Ain't it?" asked Scotty. _Why the hell else would those bastards at head office have stuck me down here with you?_

"Not to me!" said Lilly simply, studying Scotty for a moment. "I chose it."

Paige's eyes burning at her, Lilly put her petty annoyances with Scotty aside as she remembered who this was really for and began reading the case file, tapping her chin with her finger. "Three blows to the head that would have killed her, even if she hadn't been shot."

"Passion crime. Someone she knew," Scott mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets. _That prove to you I know my shit, Rush?_

"Al Clarkson was her boyfriend. Convicted in '83."

"Commonwealth must've had a case," said Scotty, accepting a crime scene photo from Lilly. Making the pretense of studying the photo intently, Scotty allowed the scene of the field to blur into one black and white blob.

"Lots of testimony that he had a temper," Lilly confirmed.

"That's nothing," said Scotty, rolling his eyes. _Then again, that was the days before good old DNA._

"His gold chain was found at the scene."

"Better."

"Tracks matched the tires on his Nova."

"Goodyear Teal Radial or Uniroyal Tiger Paw?" asked Scotty, his interest beginning to pique ever so slightly.

"Uniroyal," said Lilly, her eyes widening as she turned back to Scotty. "How'd you know that?" Lilly asked in undisguised surprise. _Especially since you sure as hell ain't looking at these crime scene photos like you're supposed to!_

Scotty shrugged. "Common upgrade on a muscle car like that." _I know a lot more than you're giving me credit for, Rush. Wait, Lilly. Guess I better get used to that._

 _Son of a bitch. This kid does know something!_ Lilly didn't hide the impressed grin from spreading across her face. "You know a lot about cars?"

Scotty stopped dead in his tracks. It was the first time Lilly had asked him anything about himself and she didn't look half as cold when she smiled. "Everything," Scotty confirmed to Lilly. Even though he'd made the choice at twenty not to keep working at his uncle's auto-repair shop, Scotty's love of all things automotive continued to be a passion he indulged at any given opportunity.

Lilly began to consider Scotty's car knowledge. "So this Will Harrell, that Ricky saw cleaning blood out of his car…"

"What kind of ride did he have?"

"Trans Am."

Scotty bit his lip. "Could've easily had those same tires."

A realization struck Lilly. "So, could've been his car at the scene."

"Alright. This snitch is startin' to get some credibility."

"Plus a head injury means a lot of blood," Lilly considered out loud. "But there wasn't much found near Paige's body."

"So, she did most of her bleeding somewhere else…"

"…like inside a car," Lilly finished. Will Harrell still worked at his dad's auto repair shop, and Lilly began to plan the day's agenda in her mind as she fell silent.

As Scotty handed the crime scene photo back to Lilly, the basement once again became as silent as a church as Lilly continued to study the case file.

Scotty couldn't help but study Lilly instead. Even though she was a bitch, she was still one of the prettiest, most intriguing women he had ever laid eyes on. _It just doesn't add up, Rush. I mean, Lilly. Sharp ones like you are needed on the line. What the hell are you doing wasting your time on jobs like these?_

"So, why do you like old jobs?" asked Scotty, no longer able to hide his curiosity. "Don't like the action?"

"Don't like bastards getting away with murder," Lilly answered softly, her anger growing as she realized how much suffering Paige had endured. _I hope you realize fast cold cases are even more important than new ones, Scotty. They've been waiting for justice longer._

But reconsidering her earlier misconceptions as the silence continued to envelope them, Lilly couldn't blame Scotty for thinking the way he did. Cold case squads were a new concept that many questioned the usefulness of. Even after Lass had experienced the results of closing cold cases, seeing families and friends getting closure and letting go of ghosts that had haunted them for decades, he had never quite had the passion for them that Lilly did.

* * *

"So, Jeffries got us the address for Will Harrell's auto repair shop. It's the same one Ricky was yakking about. We'll head there first. You want a coffee or something before we head over there?" asked Lilly, as she and Scotty began to head for one of Homicide's gray four-door sedans.

"Nah." Scotty felt jittery enough being new and alone with Lilly without adding stimulants to the mix.

"You sure? My treat," Lilly offered. _I think you and me got off on the wrong foot, Scotty. I think a drink will help break the ice._

Scotty sniffed, not sure what game Lilly was playing now. "Very sure."

"Still, you won't don't mind if we stop at the Starbucks drive-thru on the way over? I'm due for a recharge," said Lilly, claiming the driver's seat.

 _Jesus, you've got to be in charge of everything, don't you Lilly?_ Pissed at being forced to ride shotgun, Scotty gave Lilly an almost undetectable shake of his head.

* * *

Automotive grease, oil, and the sound of wrenches clanking brought a broad smile to Scotty's face as he and Lilly entered Will Harrell's auto shop. Even though he had rejected the career of a mechanic long-term, the memories were still among Scotty's best.

Spotting a homely, chubby man, complete with dark blond hair and a rapidly receding hairline, Lilly called out, "Will Harrell?"

Pausing from the car he was examining, Will offered Lilly a nod of his head.

"Remember a Rick Stockvis who used to work here?" asked Lilly, watching Scotty pacing around the shop aimlessly. _Scotty, what the hell? Stay focused!_

Will snorted as he began writing on a clipboard. "There's a name I'd rather forget."

"Why's that?" asked Scotty, bringing himself over to Will and Lilly. Pretending to be indifferent always gave him a chance to study the places he was in and spot the subtle details that had made his past partners shake their heads time and time again.

Will stopped writing. "Guy was a thief! He was lifting our tools, hawking them!" With a disgusted shake of his head, Will returned his attention to his clipboard.

"Well, we're checking out a little story he told us. About you washing blood out of your Trans Am on June 20th, 1981," explained Scotty, giving Will a hard stare.

Lilly's eyes widened. _Scotty, what the hell are you doing?_

Will's glance went from Scotty to Lilly and back again. "That's…pretty specific…"

Lilly spotted a troubled glint in Will's eyes. _Maybe the kid has some clue, after all._ "It was the same night a girl named Paige Pratt died."

Will pursed his lips and shook his head. "No. That didn't happen."

"Did you know Paige?" Scotty asked, already beginning to distrust this Will character. _Guess that snitch might have something, after all._

"No!"

"Friend of the family? Church?" Scotty pressed, his sharp eyes piercing through Will's dull wits.

"I just said I didn't know her!" Will snarled, almost ready to toss the two detectives out on their ear.

 _Shit, kid! Gotta swtich gears, now!_ "You sold that car pretty soon after her death; according to VIN records, it was just six days later."

Will's face broke into a broad grin as he tried to keep his disbelief hidden. "I wanted the new ZX!"

"What sort of tires were you sporting, Will? Factory install or upgrade?" Scotty shot back.

"I don't recall!" said Will, glaring at Scotty.

Scotty shrugged, not spotting the daggers Lilly was shooting at him to cut it out. "Well, that's what records are for. Mind if we sit in your office and look through your paperwork?"

"Yes, I do!" Will confirmed, no longer taking care to hide his anger with Scotty. "I'm very busy," muttered Will, ending the conversation as he walked away to his office and slammed the door.

Feeling Lilly's gaze burning through him, Scotty shot her a puzzled glance of his own. _What, Lilly? It's pretty clear this guy's hiding something and this just proves it!_

* * *

"What the big deal, Lilly? I'm a detective whose job's to investigate homicides. That's what I was doin'. Investigating!"

Lilly took a deep breath as their car moved slowly through a traffic snarl on Vine Street as they headed back into downtown Philly. "Scotty, I know you were trying to help, but remember our angle? I talk; you listen? You gotta follow my lead for a while or we're not gonna have any witnesses left that are willing to talk to us!"

Scotty snorted as he stared out at the standstill traffic. "What? It's plain as day he's got something to hide!"

 _Deep breath, Lil. The guy's new. Cut him some slack._ "I'm just trying to help you, Scotty. That's all."

"Well, here's a new idea, Lilly: don't!"

"Fine, have it your way, Scotty." Lilly shrugged. _You're not going to last long if you won't listen to reason is what I'm trying to tell you. I used to be a smug, know-it-all jackass like you, but learned my first week that wouldn't wash here._

* * *

"So, how'd it go?" asked Stillman, coming out of his office as he spotted Lilly and Scotty coming out of the elevator. Stillman raised his eyebrows when he was greeted by silence and Lilly and Scotty giving him matching blank glances.

* * *

"Will got pretty hinky near the end there," said Lilly as she finished filling Stillman in on the Harrell visit, being careful to omit as much of Scotty's assfoolery as was possible. As they had continued to drive back to Homicide in silence, Lilly had stolen sidelong glances at Scotty and had spotted him picking at the skin of his left thumb with his forefinger. And that's when Lilly had put it all together and figured out that for all his brash confidence and good looks, Scotty was feeling like a terrified little kid thrown into a den of wolves. And, if her hunch was right, Scotty knew she knew, which was making him put up an even stronger front.

_It'll crumple on you sooner or later, Scotty. It always does._

"Make any connect between him and Paige?" asked Stillman.

"No," said Lilly regretfully, stuffing her hands in her pockets as they continued to walk through Homicide. "They went to different high schools."

"At that age, high school's your whole world," Scotty thought aloud.

 _Good point, Scotty._ "We're still looking for her parents, they're not at their old address," said Lilly as they arrived at their work area.

"You Valens?" asked Jeffries, getting up from his seat and offering Scotty a hand.

"Yeah," said Scotty, returning Jeffries' handshake gratefully. _Finally, someone to take that damn broad's eyes off of me._

"Will Jeffries. Congratulations."

"Thanks, it's great being here," said Scotty, releasing Jeffries' hand.

"Vera and Jeffries are a matching set," explained Stillman, highlighting Homicide's second partnership.

Vera sat at his desk and almost laughed at Stillman as he cocked an eyebrow. While he and Jeffries had similar builds and were partners who made an effective team, they weren't exactly twins; Jeffries was prone to overworking while Vera got reprimanded for not doing enough.

Spotting Scotty, Vera shot him a broad grin. If what he sensed about the boy wonder was true, he would be off Stillman's radar for a while.

On cue, Jeffries grabbed a piece of paper and handed it to Scotty. "Someone named Roxy phoned for you."

"Yeah? Good!" said Scotty. This was just what he had been hoping for. So much from the Hammond case remained unresolved before it headed to trial in only two months.

"Twice," said Jeffries, trying to keep his annoyance subtle. "Says she'll try you back."

Scotty let out a loud laugh. "Yeah. She…uh…don't got a phone."

Despite herself, Lilly almost burst out laughing as she exchanged glances with Vera. _You'll have to think of better excuses around John, Scotty._

"Did you guys get a job?" Lilly asked Vera and Jeffries as she began to go through her messages.

"Fishing at the scene. Total duck," confirmed Vera, keeping his arms crossed as he continued his breather.

Knowing she would get nowhere with Vera, Lilly directed her next question to Jeffries. "Wanna track this old Trans Am for us, see if it's still on the street somewhere?"

"Sure thing," said Jeffries.

Vera sighed, unable to believe more work had fallen into his lap already.

"Lil, you might want to go see Al Clarkson, get his view of the world," suggested Stillman.

Lilly nodded as she began to prep for another trip out of the office.

Surveying the team did nothing to ease Scotty's nerves. The others seemed so sure of what they were doing, he was desperate to contribute something to show them he wasn't the sleazy playboy he had come off as. "You know, it'd be good to find the second owner on it," said Scotty, referring to the Trans Am. "Ya know, whoever bought it from Harrell?"

Vera and Jeffries exchanged contemptuous glances.

"Thanks," said Jeffries, giving Scotty a thumbs up. "We'll uh…do that!"

Vera was less subtle and his face grew bright red as he struggled not to laugh.

"You could learn something from this guy," said Stillman, trying to put Scotty at ease.

Giving Stillman a pat on the shoulder, Scotty excused himself to go get a glass of water. Even though he walked away quickly, he could hear Vera break out into peals of laughter.

Lilly paused packing her bag for the jaunt to the prison holding Clarkson and she was tempted to wring Vera's neck. He and Jeffries had been with the force and Homicide for so long, they had clearly forgotten what it was like to be the new member of the team and thrown in the deep end. And, for a good chunk of that morning, she had, too. _I'm sorry, Scotty. I'll try to do what I can to make this transition easier for you. Promise._


	4. The Sparks Begin

"What happened to Vera and Jeffries, boss?" Lilly asked, killing time in Stillman's office as she waited for Scotty to make his re-appearance. _Come on Scotty, let's get a move on here._

"Well, Lil, you know Jeffries and Vera are a formidable duo. When Vera puts his mind to workin', that is. They auto tracked the woman Will Harrell sold his car to. She's a bartender, and they're on their way to see her now."

Lilly had to smile. A dark, dank tavern in the middle of the afternoon was right up Jeffries and Vera's alley.

"Hey, sorry I took a while. Gotta a call from an informant," said Scotty, shoving his hands in his pockets as he loitered outside Stillman's office uneasily. _Roxy's gonna be a huge help to this Hammond case, but I sure as hell wish she'd just get one of those cheap pay-as-you-go cell phones so contact wasn't all the over the place!_

Stillman and Lilly exchanged looks.

"Well, now that that's finished, you gonna be heading up to see Al Clarkson today, Lil?" asked Stillman as he tried to figure out the latest change the higher ups had done to his computer system.

"Yeah. He's at the Phillips Correctional Facility just outside city limits. That should take care of a good chunk of our shift nicely." _Being at home will give me a chance to figure out how to ease in Scotty over there._

* * *

"You okay over there, Lilly?" Scotty asked as he continued to race towards Phillips. Thrilled when Lilly had headed over to the passenger side, Scotty had seized the opportunity to drive. There was a magical thing that happened to him behind the wheel of a car. No matter how much of an ass he had made of himself that morning in front of the new gang, hitting the gas once the city traffic was behind them had a cathartic effect. There was only him, the road, and the thrill of the background speeding by in a blur.

Now, catching sidelong glances of Lilly's face, Scotty began to wonder if he had overdone the speed just a little.

"Yeah," Lilly said quickly as she rolled down her window, the fresh air helping settle her churning stomach. _Rule number two, Scotty, drive like a sane person. Though I gotta admit this beats Lass's driving. Even a little old lady blind from cataracts drives faster than he does._

Scotty smirked to himself. There was a lot to be said for being in control of his predicament for the first time that day. _Take that, Madame Control!_

* * *

 _Boy, some people have trouble forgetting where they are._ Lilly tried to keep up the pretense of paying attention to Scotty's latest tirade against cold cases versus the fun he had had at West. _Work now, rant later, Scotty._

"West detectives was all about the volume! It's hoppin'! You're out there running your whole shift!"

"Um-hmm," Lilly murmured.

"That's why I'm saying I just don't know if cold cases are gonna be my thing."

"And I just don't know if you have a choice, Scotty," Lilly replied evenly, shooting Scotty a look that indicated the end of the conversation as she opened the door to the room Al Clarkson was waiting in.

 _Bitch._ Scotty scuffed one shoe along the floor as he trailed behind Lilly, resigning himself to yet another fishing exhibition.

The past twenty-two years had not been kind to Al Clarkson. The cocky, hotheaded twenty-one-year-old from the case file photos had disintegrated into a bitter man pushing middle age, his dark hair thinning and worry lines forming around his eyes and temples.

"What do you want with me?" asked Al, with a slight edge of his old fiery temper. Al was irritated he was missing his recreation time for this.

"Looking into your case again, Al," Lilly explained, coming closer to the table as Scotty shuffled along beside her with his hands in his pockets.

"Lock him up and throw away the key! That was my case."

"Well, we're looking at it again," said Scotty, suddenly sensing how hard getting this suspect's cooperation must be. _Who can blame him though if he's been stuck here for a crime he didn't do._

Al gave both detectives a hard look before lowering his head. So it would begin again. The first ten years he was in prison, Al had written to every organization dedicated to freeing the wrongfully convicted he could find and had had a good dozen meetings just like this. None of them had panned out, so why should this one be any different?

But a chance was a chance, so Al took a deep swallow. "I didn't kill Paige. I got railroaded because I was twenty-one, hanging out with a high school girl."

"Well, those guys _are_ a little creepy, Al," Scotty pointed out as he headed for a chair. _Though Paige was a looker. Gotta give you that, Al._

Al shrugged. "I was a late bloomer."

"I see Rudy Tanner was your lawyer," said Lilly, taking a seat across from Al.

Al's mouth hardened. "Strip mall hack!"

"One of those guys in bad clothes, dropping his folders all over the place?" Scotty asked Lilly as he sat down. _If this guy got a shit lawyer like that, no wonder he got landed in here with all that circumstantial evidence against him._

Lilly couldn't hide her surprised expression. Despite all his bitching and whining thus far, Scotty seemed to also have a gift for reading people. "That's him," said Lilly, shaking her head in agreement.

"I didn't know how to find someone good," Al admitted.

"How do you explain your gold chain being at the crime scene, Al?" asked Lilly, skipping the formalities and cutting to the chase.

"Paige was wearing it."

"She wear it a lot?" asked Scotty.

"When we were getting along."

"A lot of people say you had a real temper with her."

Scotty had to roll his eyes. _How come it's fine for you to play hardball with suspects, but not me? Double standard here, Lilly._

Al shook his head. "She ran wild on me. I loved her, so it hurt. Jealousy ain't against the law."

"How come you weren't with her that night?" asked Scotty. _If you two were getting along, that is._

"She was supposed to be grounded, but she musta snuck out," explained Al, supposing his long held theory aloud.

"Energetic girl," Lilly remarked.

"Yeah," said Al with a trace of sadness in his voice, "she was. My guess is she musta met some guy. She had someone on her mind around that time. She started wearin' make-up to her track meets, telling me she could race and look good. I called her out on it, but she always stormed away. I tried to keep my eyes on the groups she hung out with there, to see if I could figure out who it was."

"So, which one was he?" asked Scotty.

Al shook his head. "Never found out."

"Think it coulda been this guy? Will Harrell?" asked Lilly, showing a 1981 DMV photo of Will.

Will studied the plain faced boy with acne and a bad haircut with distaste. He _knew_ Paige had had higher standards than _that._ "Nah, I never saw him."

"Okay," said Lilly, putting the photo away. "Thanks for your time, Al."

"Yeah," muttered Al. How many of these meetings had he had now? "Go pound sand."

* * *

"Is it just me, Lilly, or are prisons always way too hot?" asked Scotty, shivering as the brisk autumn wind hit them as they headed for their sedan.

Lilly laughed. "I got a theory on that. I figure the guards keep the heat up, figuring it'll make the prisoners too out of it to fight much. Heating is cheaper than healthcare."

_Wow, you do got a sense of humour, Lilly. Who woulda thought?_

* * *

Getting back to Headquarters, Scotty and Lilly found the relook into Paige's case was gaining momentum. After tracking down the latest owner of Will's old Trans Am, a punk sixteen-year-old without insurance, Vera and Jeffries had wasted no time in having the car towed and sent downstairs for forensics testing.

"Upholstery coulda been shampooed fifty times, we're still gonna know if blood was shed in there," crowed Vera, pride in his old department still burning strong.

"Figure out a Will and Paige connect?" asked Jeffries as Lilly began to circle around the dismantled car.

"She was an athlete at Cresbie, he was a loser at Jefferson. No activities in common," explained Lilly. _Paige seems too classy to have gone to someone Will's level, but let's see what the evidence says._

"So, maybe Willy's hanging around the Wawa one night, looking for a party," theorized Scotty.

"Yeah, he's got the car going for him," agreed Vera, studying the fine old machine admiringly.

"Paige needs a ride," suggests Jeffries.

"He's a little mole, doesn't do good with girls, so he makes a play for her," said Scotty, guessing Will had as much social grace then as he did now.

"And she brushes him off, Will breaks her head open," finished Lilly.

As the forensics team finished with the car, a gleeful look came to Vera's eyes as they headed for the lights. "This is the cool part."

"Hit the lights," order Jeffries.

As the forensics team began to spray luminal over the car, both Lilly and Scotty felt their stomachs clench by the sheer amount of blood becoming more evident with each spray.

"He knew her somehow," whispered Lilly.

* * *

"You okay there, Scotty? You look at a little green."

 _Lay off, Lilly. I'm fine._ "Yeah, I'm good."

"Hey, if the sight of blood isn't easy for ya, it's fine. We all got our weaknesses, right?"

Scotty shook his head. _Way off the mark._ "Not that at all."

"What then?"

Scotty sighed, wanting nothing more than to get home and watch _The Tonight Show_ with an ice cold beer. _But you ain't gonna leave me alone unless I tell ya something._ "I've just been thinking that maybe there is a point to this cold case thing. If Al Clarkson's innocent that means…"

"…that he's been sitting in jail for twenty-two years," Lilly finished, studying Scotty closely. "As much as we like to convince ourselves we're perfect, the department is far from it, Scotty."

"You're tellin' me," Scotty muttered, pulling on his jacket.

"Did you wanna go grab a drink or something?" Lilly asked as she began to zip up her bag. "A congrats sorta thing for getting through your first shift?"

 _Ha! No way!_ Or so Scotty tried to tell himself. An attractive woman asking him out for a drink didn't happen that often. But then that would mean work mixing with home and that was always something Scotty had vowed never to do. Going out for a drink with one of the guys was cool; it was different with women. Getting drunk and a few words taken the wrong way could lead to—Scotty wasn't going there.

"Afraid I have plans, Lilly. Thanks anyways."

"It's all good, Scotty. Guess you'll be here bright and early when we go see Harrell?" _I think you and me just might start meshing together, after all. If you use your head once in a while, that is._

"Wouldn't miss it for the world. I can't wait to nail that creep!" _And I can't wait to see the fireworks!_

* * *

Will Harrell had turned on his heel and walked away when he saw Lilly and Scotty back at the shop, but Lilly and Scotty were undeterred. This bastard wasn't going to get away with murder.

"Found your old Trans Am, Will. Blood, blood, and more blood!" said Lilly as they followed Will towards the back of the shop.

Will turned to face the defectives, a disbelieving smirk crossing his face.

"Wanna see pictures?" offered Scotty, holding up a large, glossy poloroid for Will to view.

Will's smirk faded as he studied the picture. "Okay. Just…here's what happened. I…hit a dog. On the Turnpike."

Lilly and Scotty exchanged contemptuous glances.

"A dog?" asked Scotty, not bothering to disguise his mocking disbelief.

"Yeah…my car, I hadda clean it out after. That's what Ricky must've seen," stammered Will, his pale face draining of all colour.

"You a special kind of stupid, Will?" asked Scotty. _You've gotta be the dumbest guy I've met in a long time._

_Okay, Scotty, just take it easy. Don't overplay your hand, here._

"I'm not makin' it up!" Will declared. "And the night that girl was murdered, I was at _Raiders of the Lost Ark_!"

_Bullshit._

Scotty shook his head. _Yeah, right._ "You remember that too now, huh?"

"You guys comin' around made me think of it," explained Will.

An awkward moment passed as Lilly and Scotty continued to study Will with disbelief. Who the hell would remember seeing a movie twenty-two years ago on a certain date? Especially someone who clearly was not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

"Who'd you see it with?" asked Lilly.

"Bennet Cahill, my best friend," Will rattled off instantly as Scotty began writing the name down. "And his girlfriend, Jane. I hadda get in line at noon the day before, but it was all worth it! I still got the ticket stub to prove it!"

"You have the stub from twenty-two years ago?" asked Lilly. _Because if you did, that's just convenient as hell._

"Some good luck," admitted Scotty.

"It's my favourite movie!" Will explained. "You keep stuff like that!"

"Will, you do realize that we have the science to tell us the difference between dog and human blood, right?" inquired Lilly, to see if Will was still willing to stick to his story.

"I have the ticket stub!"

"You and Bennett still close?" asked Scotty.

"Bennett's really successful, always was! Class president, went to Princeton. He's a surgeon now!"

 _You gotta be shitting me!_ "You're friends with a surgeon?" asked Scotty, biting his lip so he wouldn't collapse and start rolling around on the floor in laughter.

"Old friends," admitted Will.

"Okay, Will. We'll check out that story," said Lilly, motioning to Scotty it was time to leave.

"I have the stub!" Will called after them.

* * *

As they waited for Dr. Bennett Cahill to return to his office after checking up on a patient he had operated on the previous night, Lilly found herself playing with a stethoscope sitting idle on Bennett's desk. She and Scotty hadn't said much on the drive over to the hospital; both were still trying to grasp how someone of Will's social standing had been friends with someone who had clearly been one of the most popular students at Cresbie High.

"So, what happened to your old partner?" Scotty asked Lilly as their waiting continued. The question had been nagging at him all day. Despite his earlier misgivings, he was beginning to mellow out about his placement in Homicide, despite the fact Lilly was starting to make it hard for him to focus on his job a lot of the time. Ever since she had cracked a joke at the prison and offered to take him out for a drink Scotty had begun to have less than wholesome thoughts about his new partner.

"He transferred out to HIU."

"Gotta weed out the weak ones," Scotty muttered. _Homicide isn't exactly the most exciting place; how'd the hell someone like that handle being on the line before getting his transfer in there?_

That hit a nerve. "He needed all day work with his diabetes. He wasn't weak," Lilly protested hotly. _Smug know it all._

 _Shit, that explains it._ Scotty felt himself begin to burn and he was relieved when the door to Bennett's office opened.

Though pushing forty, Bennett had aged well; his dark brown hair and chiseled, classic good looks made it easy for Scotty and Lilly to see part of the reason high school had been a social heaven for Bennett. It also made Will's story all the harder to believe.

"Bennett Cahill," said Bennett, brushing off his blue scrubs as he headed for his desk.

"Detectives Rush and Valens, Homicide," said Lilly, flashing her badge.

"What's it about?" asked Bennett, taking a seat and indicating to Scotty and Lilly they should do the same.

"A guy named Will Harrell. You went to high school together," explained Lilly, digging in her shoulder bag.

"I could probably place him," said Bennett, though his eyes showed no glint of recognition.

Opening up the Cresbie High 1981 yearbook, Lilly pointed out Will's picture.

"Oh right, _that_ guy," said Bennett with a snort. "What'd he do?"

"We don't know yet," explained Lilly.

"Will says you and him were best friends," said Scotty, preferring to stand. _Height's the best advantage when dealing with people of this guy's arrogance._

"More like acquaintances."

"He says you went with him and your girlfriend to _Raiders of the Lost Ark_ , June 20th, 1981," persisted Lilly. _Gotta check out every angle of Will's story._

"I doubt it. I was probably with Jane, but _Will_ …" Bennett trailed off in disbelief.

"Willy the outcast type?" asked Scotty.

"You could say," confirmed Bennett. "But he had this room at his dad's shop. It was a no parent zone, so a lot of us would hang out there, drink beer, whatever."

"How'd he do with the ladies?" asked Scotty. _Lemme put a wild guess here that his batting average was zero._

"Don't recall any big scores."

"Did he ever mention a girl named Paige?" asked Lilly, closing the yearbook.

Bennett shook his head. "No. We didn't talk a lot. After he freaked me out one night I stopped going over there."

"What'd he do?" asked Lilly, biting her lip as Scotty loomed behind her.

"He showed me a gun. Called it a "bitch killer."

Scotty and Lilly glanced at one another. This could be the break they needed.

Assuming they had the same contempt for the freak that he did, Bennett continued, "Yeah, that's when I stopped going over there."

"Did Will seem like he could ever get frustrated enough to hurt a girl?" asked Scotty, trying to gauge how much rejection Will could have stood from someone like Paige.

"I don't know," admitted Bennett. "I hope not."

* * *

The gears continuing to move fast, the team welcomed a greasy, late night dinner of burgers, fries, and shakes.

"Will was a B-list kid with A-list aspirations," said Lilly, slurping up another sip of strawberry milkshake.

"A hottie like Paige would've blown him off for sure. He meets her, gets the snub, it's the last straw, so he pulls out his bitch killer," Scotty mused aloud.

"His _what_?" asked Stillman, pulling back his burger.

 _Shit, I didn't mean to say that bit!_ "Uh, nothin', Boss," said Scotty, looking down.

Deciding it was best to change the subject, Stillman turned his attentions to Lilly. "Did you ever find Paige's parents?

Lilly shook her head. "Moved to Atlanta in '84. Not returning phone calls." _Can't imagine they're happy this is being opened back up. They thought justice was done._

"They already got someone in jail. Why relieve that nightmare?" Scotty pointed out, not blaming Paige's parents one bit.

_A guy with sensitivity, who woulda thought it?_

Stillman sighed. "The DA's office is going to hate this."

"I know. Kite's already called a hundred times," confirmed Lilly. _Why can't these guys around here get a clue I ain't mixing my work and home life beyond a coffee or drink at the bar? Why can't Kite take the hint and bug the boss or Vera more? Vera needs to learn how to do work, anyways._

"Who's Kite?" asked Scotty, adding the name to the growing list in his brain.

"Assistant DA," explained Lilly. "Ivy League jerk."

Studying Lilly's annoyed glance, Scotty sensed there was more to Kite and Lilly's relationship than just a rivalry or mere annoyance. No, Scotty bet it was because Kite just might have a thing for Lilly and, true to guy form, was being persistent. And Scotty wasn't sure he liked that possibility very much.


	5. Obstacles

_God, what they hell do you care about some DA being after Lilly? You're never going there again, you promised yourself…_ Scotty's thoughts were interrupted when he heard heavy footsteps approaching the group.

Vera grabbed a free seat beside Lilly and dropped some papers onto the table. "Criminalistics just called. It _was_ Paige's blood in the Trans-Am."

Lilly and Scotty exchanged glances. Their late night was nowhere near over.

* * *

"You can't do this!" Will Harrell whined, crumbling the letter Lilly had handed him into a ball. Will glared at Scotty, standing atop a stepladder as he rooted around the ceiling of the storage room that, at one time, had been the neighbourhood's hottest hangout.

"Sure, we can; read the search warrant," Lilly retorted.

"I'm tellin' you, I hit a dog!" Will protested.

"Well, that dog had Paige Pratt's DNA," Lilly replied, searching through a box.

Will reached into the top pocket of his dark blue coveralls. "Look, look at the date," said Will, shaking a small piece of paper in Lilly's face. "June 20th, 1981!"

Lilly glanced at the ticket stub Will kept tapping.

"Heads up!" called Scotty, pulling something out of the ceiling.

Will and Lilly looked up.

Removing a rag that had obscured the pistol, Scotty shot Will a contemptuous glance. "Found the bitch-killer!"

Will dropped the stub, his hand shaking. "I've never seen that before in my life!"

Scotty shot a smirk over at Lilly. "My money says this is the gun that killed Paige." _We got him!_

"Party's over, Will," said Lilly.

"I was with Bennett and Jane that night!" Will protested, his breath coming out in rapid spurts.

 _Sure._ "Yeah, we talked to Bennett," confirmed Lilly, walking up to Will. "He didn't back your story."

The blood drained from Will's face. "Wh—what?" he stammered.

"Your best friend barely remembered you, Willy," said Scotty, looming over Will. _These morons never know when they're finished._

"Said you were a nobody in high school, a hanger on who got used by the popular kids because you gave them a place to party," Lilly added.

Will's eyes narrowed. "He didn't say that!"

"Said he wouldn't be seen at the movies with you. Or anywhere else," said Lilly as Scotty came up alongside her.

Will shook his head, walking away from Lilly and Scotty. Then he spun on his heel to face the two detectives. "Well, then screw him," Will muttered. "Want to know the truth?"

 _Would be a start. "_ For a change, you mean?" asked Scotty, wondering where Will's latest tale would now lead.

Will swallowed and the pulse in his neck began to throb visibly. "We were _supposed_ to go to the movies that night. But he asked if he could borrow my car first. So I lent it to him and hung around here, watching TV. I was gettin' pretty antsy when eleven came and went with no Bennett or Jane…"

* * *

_Will had leaned back on the worn sofa, groaning as he came to yet another infomercial. He had studied the old desk clock atop the TV: 11:45pm._

_Will got up as he heard a door bang against the dirty concrete wall behind him. He gritted his teeth as Bennett came into view. Bennett's short, dark brown hair was saturated with sweat and his hazel eyes darted about the room nervously."Where the hell have you been!?" demanded Will._

_Bennett approached Will, wringing his polo shirt in his hands. "There was a problem," Bennett choked._

" _Is..is that blood?" asked Will, his stomach churning at the red stains smeared across Bennett's shirt._

" _I uh…hit a dog," stammered Bennett, trying in vain to wipe the blood stains off with an oil soaked rag._

" _You and Jane?"_

" _No…just me. I uh…tried to save it. I took it to the vet," said Bennett. "There's blood all over the seats."_

_Will clenched a fist. He wondered again just how Bennett had talked him into lending out his car. "You shoulda called me!"_

_Bennett nodded. "The uh…upholstery's going to need to be cleaned out."_

" _I'll do it," muttered Will, moving to the door. Maybe, if the blood hadn't a chance to seep for long, the seats had a chance of salvation with a good scrub.  
_

" _Will?" called Bennett._

_Will stopped and looked at Bennett testily._

" _Let's tell people we went to_ Raiders _,"_ _pleaded Bennett. "I don't want my mom knowing about the dog."_

_Will studied his friend. Despite his anger, he didn't want to make Bennett's awful night any worse. "Okay."_

" _Thanks, pal," Bennett had called as Will had headed for his car._

* * *

"Dumbass story, Willy," said Scotty, a broad grin across his face as he clenched the gun between his latex gloves.

"It's true!"

"Sure, Willy."

"I loaned Bennett my car…he musta killed that girl and then…then…put that gun in the ceiling!"

Scotty turned to Will. "Then why'd you cover for him?"

"We had a deal. Not to talk about it," explained Will. "And…I thought we were friends."

Lilly studied Will intently as she reached for her cuffs. _He seems so shaken by Bennett not covering his story. But the evidence won't lie._

* * *

"So, we gonna do this?" Scotty asked Lilly, rubbing his eyes. After listening to Will protest his innocence the entire way back to Headquarters, he and Lilly had had a ton of paperwork to process before they could begin interrogating Will. But the delay had ended up working in their favour; ballistics had been able to test the recovered gun and confirm that it matched the slugs pulled out of Paige's body.

 _Just let me go grab a coffee!_ "Just a sec!" Lilly called, handing Scotty a file folder as she began to race for her desk. She let out a gasp as a dark form stepped in front of her.

Assistant District Attorney Kite smirked at Lilly, his brown eyes flashing. "You owe me a call, Rush."

 _Ugh, not now!_ Lilly sighed. "I was getting to that today!"

"There's a difference between _cold_ cases and _closed_ cases," said Kite irritably. "Do you get my meaning?"

 _For God's sake!_ "You agreed to a deal with that snitch!"

"No one said his information was on a case we already won!"

"Well, okay," replied Lilly, leaning against the wall. "Then we should just ignore the DNA and ballistics then, huh?"

Kite clenched his jaw and brushed hair off his black suit jacket. "Am I supposed to go to my boss and say, 'Sorry, you screwed up the pooch on this one and we're just gonna start over?'"

 _Damn right you are!_ "An innocent man has been sitting in jail for twenty-two years because of your boss. Why don't you tell him that?" suggested Lilly, giving Kite a cocky grin of her own.

Kite glared at Lilly. "I don't spring Al Clarkson until you arrest Will Harrell."

"I'm holding him," said Lilly, crossing her arms.

"I want an arrest!"

"I want to give it a day!"

"No!"

Lilly's gaze wavered and she felt her heart flutter as Kite's look of triumph began to shift downward. _God, why does he have to look at me like that?_ "Okay, Will's locked up!"

Kite smirked as Lilly disappeared down the hall, Scotty on her tail.

"Who's that charmer?" asked Scotty, watching Kite head for the elevator.

 _Loaded question!_ "ADA Kite," Lilly explained, taking a deep breath to steady her racing heartbeat. "He's above cops."

Scotty grinned. "Not above checking you out!"

 _Nothing new there!_ "You okay if I just go grab a coffee before we grill Will?"

"Sure," said Scotty. He bit his lip as Lilly walked away. The mystery man pursuing Lilly had revealed himself. And, despite Lilly's having professed dislike for Kite, Scotty now knew the attraction to be mutual. It had been evident in the glares Kite and Lilly had shot at each other and Scotty was disheartened to find out Kite wasn't all that bad looking for a man a tad on the ancient side.

Then Scotty shook his head. _You gotta let this go._

* * *

Scotty cursed as he fumbled with the stiff lock leading into the apartment he had recently begun renting. Though the building was nearing the end of its renovations, replacing the Fifties doors and locks appeared to be the landlord's last priority.

Success at lat obtained, Scotty flung the door open and slammed it shut behind him. Clutching the grease laden bag containing the Big Macs and fries he'd grabbed on the way home, Scotty headed for the living room without bothering to remove his overcoat or shoes. Stopping by the coffee table, Scotty ripped open the bag and stuffed a handful of fries into his mouth. The dinner his new boss had bought for him and Lilly as their shift had worn on had only temporarily satisfied his hunger.

Heading to the kitchen for some water, Scotty sighed as he read the clock on the microwave: 3:03 am. He had to be back in the office at nine. _Guess I shoulda bought some coffee at the grocery last night after all._

It was beginning to amaze Scotty how swiftly the shifts in homicide went by, in spite of very little actually happening. For five hours he and Lilly had taken turns questioning Will, contradicting every angle of his story with the evidence. Despite the grimness of his situation, stammering Will had steadfastly refused to crack. The guy had tenacity Scotty grudgingly admired.

* * *

Crushing up the empty Big Mac containers, Scotty crammed them into the paper bag and crumbled the mess up. Resting his feet on the coffee table, Scotty debated about catching a few hours of shuteye. Though he had been in the new apartment for a month, his bed still felt strange, the shadows foreign. The slightest creak of the aging building would rouse him from slumber that had once been so heavy his mother had once lamented he'd end up sleeping through nuclear war.

Aiming and throwing the paper wad at the wastebasket, Scotty let out a groan as it missed and skidded across the hardwood floor. It didn't matter that the scenery of his life was now altered; he had merely traded one torment for another set of torture.

* * *

" _You're a lucky man. You know that, Scotty?" Scotty's old partner Craig had told him enviously as yet another blind date of his had fizzled out._

_Shaking his head in protest, Scotty had had to secretly agree with Craig's assessment. He didn't know anyone else still going strong with their high school sweetheart._

* * *

_From their earliest days sneaking sidelong glances at each other in freshman Spanish, Scotty had known Elisa Collins was the woman he was going to marry. Smart with flawless skin and wispy blonde hair, Elisa had been the one girl his mother had approved of her youngest son dating._

_And for eleven years, things had been perfect. Elisa and Scotty had stuck together even after Elisa had headed out west for college and Scotty had drifted from auto-mechanics to law enforcement. After Elisa had graduated college and gotten a great job with an advertising agency in downtown Philadelphia, Scotty had completed his Philadelphia Police Academy training and they had bought an apartment together._

_It had taken them five years to get that apartment just right; working shifts had meant for erratic home improvements on Scotty's part, and Elisa had to travel far and wide with her new job to secure new accounts: New York, Seattle, London. The few moments Elisa and Scotty's schedules had aligned had been devoted to more romantic endeavors._

_But both knew there was no one else for either of them, and Elisa had waited patiently to tell people of their engagement until Scotty had saved up for Elisa's dream engagement ring. All that had been left was plan the wedding and for Scotty to convince his captain to let him have a month off so he and Elisa could hit all the cities in Europe they had pinned on the map overlooking their bed._

_That was until the magic had begun to go wrong._

* * *

_It had started subtlety, with Scotty finding piles of newspaper clippings on their den desk, lines drawn between words. But Elisa had always had a fascination for word play that had been above what he was able to comprehend._

_Then Elisa had begun to make claims of a man at work harassing her, jealous she had gotten a promotion over him. He was the reason people at work were conspiring to have her fired. She just knew it._

_Kissing Elisa's head as she rested on his chest, Scotty had reassured Elisa the storm would pass._

_But when Elisa had begun wrapping her car in aluminum foil to prevent the FBI satellites from hearing her thoughts, Scotty had realized Elisa had bigger issues than his love alone could vanquish._

* * *

_A thinking disease. That was what the doctor had told Scotty and Elisa's mother what schizophrenia was. A subtle glitch in Elisa's brain wiring that had lain dormant was now active and wreaking havoc. But the doctor had told them to have hope; there were drugs that could help Elisa's problem and give her a good shot of having a mostly normal life._

_For three long years, Scotty had watched the disease and drugs alter the woman he had once known to into a complete stranger. The drugs would begin to suppress the beast, but then the shakes would be so bad Elisa would hide the pills under the couch. The monster again burning, Elisa would be readmitted to the University Hospital's psychiatric ward to be stabilized, only for the cycle to begin again._

_Scotty had known Elisa's spirit was fading when the spark in her eyes had begun to disappear. But he still couldn't believe she done had what they said she had. Elisa had been getting better on the new drug combination the doctors had come up with. Besides, Elisa had been afraid of heights and water. The only way she could have ended up in the Schuylkill River was if she had been pushed or thrown off the bridge._

* * *

Scotty still owned the apartment. It had taken eighteen months after Elisa's death for him to bring himself to put it on the market. Even though the rooms were only a hollow reminder of what had once been, someone else living there was unthinkable until the ghosts and memories had become too much. For the first year, he had been so driven to finding Elisa's killer that nothing else had registered. But time had only magnified his grief, not softened it.

Studying the picture of Elisa that he still kept in his wallet, Scotty wanted to slap himself for even entertaining the idea of liking his new partner and being jealous of potential competition. Until the day he joined Elisa in the cold, barren ground, there would be no one else for him.


	6. Turbulent Dawn

Scotty shook his head, breaking up images of Lilly and Elisa into shattered fragments. Leaning back into his easy chair, Scotty tried to reassemble the mantra his former partner Craig had taught him.

* * *

_Craig Dettweiler had tucked a thumb into his fist as he had spotted his partner, Scotty Valens, still scrutinizing the interrogation report he had just written._

_"Scotty?" Craig called, beginning to put on his windbreaker.._

_Scotty looked up and shot Craig a look that wasn't exactly friendly. "What?"_

" _You thinkin' about maybe heading home soon and…I dunno…trying something new like gettin' some rest?" Craig asked, zipping up his jacket._

_Scotty glared and turned his attention back to the report without saying a word._

_Craig stuffed a hand into his jacket, trying to fish out the pack of gum he had taking to hiding there so it wouldn't be "borrowed" from his desk. Popping a piece into his mouth, Craig tried to let the cool peppermint wash away his frustrations. The past year had tested his and Scotty's partnership to its limits. After the apparent suicide of his girlfriend, the cocky, easygoing man Craig had once considered his best friend had transformed into a quiet, increasingly brooding figure. Craig had taken to choosing every word and action. It was either that or once again be at the receiving end of Scotty's fists like the day after Elisa's funeral. On that day, Craig's reservations that his partner was coming back to work far too early had proven chillingly astute.  
_

_Sensing Craig's gaze still upon him, Scotty let out a sigh and looked up. "Just get on with it, Dett. Whatever it is you're gonna lecture me about, just do it!"_

_Craig flushed. Leave it to Scotty to put him on the spot when he was still trying to organize his thought processes. Swallowing his gum, Craig grabbed an empty chair and wheeled himself over to Scotty. "It's about work."_

_Scotty groaned._

_Craig pursed his lips. "You know where I'm goin' with this."_

_Scotty shrugged and looked back at the report. "Someone's gotta give a shit about our cases," Scotty mumbled._

"Fuck... _it ain't that at all and you know it!" exclaimed Craig, realizing he was hot and removing his jacket. "You gotta quit running."_

_Scotty snorted and undid the top button of his uniform shirt. "Why run when I can race at the Speedway?"_

_Craig kept his expression even, though his brown eyes burned like hot coals beneath his thatch of tight, curly black hair. "You gotta quit burying yourself in work and try lookin' ahead for a change. All the guys hate what happened to you, Scotty, but you're gonna have to deal with it sometime."_

_Scotty's cocky grin faded and a cold, white hate descended upon his face. His fists began to clench and it took all of his might to not tackle Craig to the floor._

_As he had jerked his head away from Craig's worried stare, Scotty had made a beeline for the men's' room. He had known he couldn't afford another emotional blow-out like the one he had had after Elisa's funeral, where Craig's well-intentioned gesture of placing a hand on his shoulder had been too much and resulted in Craig getting a black eye. Being placed on administrative leave so he could adequately "process things" had almost killed him, when the badge was all he had left._

* * *

Scotty cracked open a beer and guzzled it down as another ghost faded into a crisp autumn night. But he this was one memory Scotty didn't mind. "Look ahead and never think about the past or else you get buried in bad memories in five seconds," Scotty whispered as he wiped beer off his chin stubble. _Screwed that up tonight._

A small smile crossed Scotty's lips as he began to think of Lilly. She had the same features that had first attracted him to Elisa: delicate and fine like a porcelain doll. But Scotty now knew Lilly's exterior belied the stoic individual that resided underneath, despite the little time that thus far had marked their partnership. Her fiery glances and sharp gestures when she told him off gave testimony to the convictions he was coming to admire. For the first time in his romantic life, Scotty liked the idea of not being totally in control if things ever progressed beyond the blue line and into the bedroom.

Then the soap bubble dissolved as the needle to his fantasy made its appearance once more. Assistant District Attorney Kite, the man Lilly professed to hate. Scotty knew that claim to be nothing but a farce. The malice in Lilly's words when she had griped about Kite had been nowhere near the passion that had erupted from her mouth when Scotty had questioned the worthiness of pursuing cold jobs. Somewhere deep inside Lilly clearly relished the prospect of Kite making a pass at her in the not too distant future.

And Kite's feelings had also been all too evident across his face. _Terrible actor._ DAs were supposed to be polished and collected and superficially Kite had pulled off the ruse. But the lust in his eyes had barely been concealed and it was no wonder Lilly had been so tongue tied after Kite had made his exit.

The fact work loomed in mere hours flew out of Scotty's mind as he grabbed a second, icy Heineken. A new sensation was beginning to form in the deep recesses of his brain. Scotty could barely put a word to it because it had never been a problem when he had been with Elisa; they had been the ones envied by everyone else. Some way, somehow, Scotty knew he had to act fast if he didn't want this Kite character to snatch away the first chance of happiness he could envision himself happening if he didn't overplay his hand.

Then Scotty let the beer can loose and scarcely heard it clatter and splash over the kitchen tile. _Just how the hell do I do this?_ He had no God damned idea how to act upon the crush that was rapidly developing into something bigger. He hadn't had to play the dating game since high school. Even then, Elisa had been the one who had imitated things when Scotty had been too shy to even say hello to her.

 _Elisa…_ Tears pricked Scotty's eyes as the beer's drowsiness began to erode his consciousness.

* * *

No longer able to ignore the beep from her cellphone, Lilly flipped it open and scrolled through the flickering screen until she came upon her latest text: _dinner and drinks 2nite?_

Lilly had to chuckle as she tried to get comfortable on the narrow berth of bed her cats had left her. Kite was tenacious; she had to give him that. Even after their little run in the previous evening, he was still willing to let bygones be bygones and only amp up the pressure to go out a date with him ever so subtlety. The polite rebuffs she had given him for the past two months had only egged him on and Lilly still couldn't believe Kite had convinced her to give him her _personal_ cell number. Now hardly a day went by when they didn't spend at least a few minutes texting each other back and forth.

Lilly had never wanted it to turn out this way and she still tried to convince herself she had nothing but contempt for the arrogant DA who did as much as he could to make a cop's job even more difficult. But those notions faded each time Kite popped into the department unexpectedly to scold her over her latest warrant request and he said her name in that special way that had begun in the most unexpected of circumstances.

* * *

_It hadn't been anything out of the ordinary. Lilly had needed a search warrant for a property in Chestnut Hill to see if a bloody tennis racket, the supposed murder weapon, was indeed buried beside the house. With the confession of an accomplice to the murder, Lilly had assumed it would be a slam dunk._

_But there was always that wrench to be thrown into the gears of justice. The family at the centre of this homicide investigation was one of Philadelphia's wealthiest and most prominent. Even though times were alleged to have changed, it was evident the family still had personal connections and clout within the DA's office and police department and when Kite had seemed bent on doing everything possible to derail the investigation's imminent end. When Kite had finally given in, Lilly had coldly let it slip she would need a good, stiff drink after the wrangling Kite had just been her through. When Kite had asked if he could join her for that drink, Lilly hadn't been sure who had been more surprised when she had said yes._

* * *

Before Lilly had known it, it had come to the bar's two AM closing and she and Kite still hadn't run out of things to talk about. It had been easy enough; like most men she knew in the legal field, Kite was conceited and loved nothing more than to talk about his accomplishments. But he was such an articulate conversationalist Lilly hadn't minded much. Besides, it took away from herself and having to explain her past dating life and attempt to skirt around the engagement that had ended only days before the wedding was to begin.

Tapping the phone's buttons as her her cat Olivia began to snore loudly, Lilly pondered what reply to text back to Kite. She had vowed to herself after dumping Patrick six years before she didn't need a man in her life and that her cats provided all the love and companionship she would ever need. But it was harder to tell herself that each passing winter when Lilly began to realize the space next to her wouldn't be so cold if there was a body other than her cats to warm it.

 _What the hell?_ Lilly texted back: _sure if i don't have to work late_ and began to feel a hot blush creep across her body. She was only twenty-nine and deserved some fun in her life; one date didn't mean she and Kite were getting married and it was slim pickings in the dating world otherwise. A job that was all-consuming and came with erratic hours meant that most eligible men in her world were the ones she shared coffee and doughnuts with each day.

But fellow cops were hardly the types to get involved with. They either were already married when they joined the force or did whatever they could to socialize outside of work for the sake of their sanity, and Lilly had quickly adopted those ideas are her own personal philosophy. And, as the years had gone by, it had worked. The cops Lilly currently worked with were either married or so past her the upper end of her desired age bracket that keeping her Academy-era promise had been a cinch when Lilly hadn't had a fellow co-worker to be attracted to until Scotty Valens had turned up.

 _Stop right there._ The comfortable blush began to sear as Lilly quickly pulled herself out of bed and fled to the kitchen, hoping a cold cup of coffee would douse the flames that she could feel burning out of control.

 _Yuck!_ Lilly scowled and dumped the black coffee down the sink as Scotty's cocky grin teased at the edge of her vision. The man was far better looking than Kite; there was no denying it. And despite her continuing reservations about his policing style, Scotty was showing himself to be just as devoted to the cause as she was. He also had that tendency to say exactly what was on his mind, whether it was appropriate or not, and Lilly couldn't help but find it endearing when his comments were so funny and accurate. Such sharp wit was something she rarely encountered…

 _Christ, today is going to be a long day, isn't it?_ From zero to two men in a week Lilly began washing her mug out as the cats trooped into the kitchen, meowing for their breakfast.

* * *

" _Scotty…" the willowy voice cut through the noise of the ninth-grade picnic._

_Catching Elisa's eye, Scotty grabbed her hand, trying to ignore the whistles and hoots of his friends and they noticed Scotty and Elisa disappearing into the bushes the teachers had ordered the kids not to venture into._

_Elisa clenched Scotty's hand tight, ignoring the hair in her eyes and the prickles of thorns until she was satisfied they were out of earshot of the gaggle of ninth graders spraying each other with sodas and water as sophomore year dawned ever closer._

_Catching his breath, Scotty's eyes flashed as he took Elisa in. Her permed hair was in an excited frizz and the blue wool sweater she had chosen to wear that cool day accentuated her curves and budding breasts. That was the Elisa Scotty had fallen in love with before the drugs and hallucinations had withered her face and smouldered her eyes._

" _Scotty…" Elisa whispered into his ear._

" _Yes? What is it?" Scotty whispered back, leaning to give Elisa's satin soft cheek a kiss._

" _You've got to let me go."_

" _What?" Scotty asked in confusion as he straightened up, letting out a gasp as a white flash knocked him backward and caused him to lose his grip on Elisa's trembling palm._

_Letting her hair free of the bun she had favoured as she had grown into her twenties, Elisa let her long white gown spread above her bare legs as she patiently waited for Scotty to get his bearings._

" _What's going on?" Scotty whispered, crawling backwards until razor sharp thorns of the Yellowleaf Hawthorn stopped his trek._

" _It's time, Scotty."_

" _Time for WHAT?"_

" _Time to let yourself be happy," Elisa whispered as she began to disappear underneath the broad leaves of a short maple tree._

" _I can only be happy with you!" Scotty pleaded as he tried to get to his feet. "Come back!"_

" _When the time is right we'll be together again." Elisa's voice echoed into Scotty's ears before a gust of wind swept him away and back into his apartment._

* * *

Scotty awoke in a cold sweat, and he felt dazed as soft sunlight filtered through the open kitchen window and onto the scrub pine table he had felt asleep on. Raising his head groggily and wiping cold drool off his chin, Scotty's heart began to hammer as his panicked eyes drifted towards the microwave clock: 6:42 AM.

Scotty hunched shoulders relaxed as he got to his feet. His job was still safe. Heading for the bathroom, Scotty rubbed the last traces of slumber away from his eyes and groaned when he saw the disheveled wreck in front of the mirror. Being a homicide detective was certainly not doing much in the way of his looks or health. _Hell, I'm on my way to the grave with the colds and Elisa._

 _Elisa._ Scotty paused unbuttoning his shirt, as fuzzy patches of his dream began to become clear. It had been so long since he had had a dream involving Elisa that hadn't centred around visions of her standing alone crying and scantily clad along a bridge rail before she hurled herself into the icy depths of the Schuylkill River or tripped out on her latest pharmaceutical cocktail. This Elisa had been the _old_ Elisa.

 _I just don't get it._ But Scotty began to rip his shirt off with a new sense of purpose. Today would be the day.


	7. Taking a Chance

The got2b glued spiking gel filled the steamy bathroom with its unmistakeable aroma, but Scotty barely noticed it as he focused on gelling every last hair into even peaks.

It had been ages since Scotty had given a damn about his appearance. Aside from keeping his uniform crisp and smooth to the rigid standards dictated by the authorities', his preparation routine had consisted of quick, cool showers and shaves whenever his beard got so stiff that his face began to itch. But it had been drilled into Scotty before leaving West that Homicide had its own set of standards where looking professional and polished was not only desired, but required.

This should impress the boss, thought Scotty as he picked a dark tie with white polka dots to go with his navy suit. Tightening the tie until he thought he would choke, Scotty pulled his shirt collar over it and studied himself in the mirror. Except for some slight redness in his eyes, he figured he didn't look half bad and hoped it would be enough to persuade his partner that he was now ready to take her up on her offer of coffee.

* * *

 _Nothing beats a good double espresso._ Lilly patted her lips dry with a Starbucks napkin as the early morning fuel began to activate. Though her personal cell vibrated periodically, Lilly had resolved to ignore any messages from Kite until the end of the workday. An innocent man had wasted over half of his life in jail for a crime he hadn't committed and Lilly was determined to do all she could to ensure Al Clarkson would be free to enjoy life with the prison pen pal he had married some five years before.

"Morning, Lilly," called a gravelly voice.

Lilly raised her head as Scotty plopped himself down at his desk. For a moment, Lilly couldn't hide her surprise as her gaze went from her coffee cup to Scotty. With bloodshot eyes sunk back into his head, Scotty looked like he hadn't gotten any rest at all after leaving the office. "Rough night, Scotty?"

"What makes you think that?" Scotty asked irritably, rubbing his temples. After all the time he had taken to make himself look presentable, he couldn't believe his partner had seen through his cocky disguise so readily.

"Female intuition."

"Well, pretty inaccurate, if you ask me."

"Fine, Valens," Lilly replied crisply, throwing her empty coffee cup into the overflowing wastebasket beside her desk as she began to once again look over the original notes from the Pratt case file.

 _God, I'm already blowing it!_ Scotty dug his chewed nails into his palm as he began to sift through his own case notes. He hadn't even been in the office two minutes and already Lilly was being short with him. What little he had seen of her temper during their time in the basement file room was enough to make Scotty's heart speed up a few beats.

Considering Scotty's furrowed brow and clenched jaw, Lilly parted her lip, trying to remember her own first days in Homcide. After two years of dozens of crime scenes and fast paced investigations, that time was almost a blur. But Lilly still couldn't forget feeling buried by files and interviews, desperately trying to surface and have a chance to breathe.

"So, wanna know what's on today's agenda?" Lilly asked Scotty, twirling a pen between her fingers.

"Sure," said Scotty, feeling a bit better now that the frosty tone had gone away from Lilly's voice.

"Jefferies and Vera…well, mostly Jefferies," Lilly corrected as a small chuckle escaped out her mouth, "were going through some old yearbooks from the Cresbie and Jefferson high schools. Trying to find a Will and Paige connect."

Scotty rubbed his nose. "I guess they found something? I mean considering it all points to Will, Lilly. I just know it's him!"

Lilly let out a small sigh. "I know. But I wanna check out _all_ the angles of Will's story from the beginning, making sure to keep Bennett in mind. Al Clarkson got screwed because that wasn't done the first time. I don't wanna do that to Will."

Scotty realized Lilly had a point, though he still harboured serious doubts. "Okay. But did you find anything that connects Will to Paige?"

Lilly shook her head. "Nothing. She was a popular athlete, Will was on the fringes at best."

"Okay, what about Bennett and Paige?"

"Now, that's what's interesting," said Lilly as she grabbed one of the yearbooks off her desk and began flipping through the pages. "Remember how Will said Bennett was always a success?"

Scotty thought he smelt smoke as his brain creaked into gear. "I think so."

"Well," said Lilly, turning the book around so Scotty could see a page featuring Jefferson High's sports teams. "Guess who was captain of the Jefferson track team in '81?"

"Bennett?"

"None other."

Scotty tapped his chin with his forefinger. "So he and Paige coulda met that way."

"Right. And Al was sure Paige was flirting with someone at a track meet a month before her murder."

Scotty began to grin. "Now something's cooking!"

"Exactly!" said Lilly, getting up from her desk and beginning to pull on her black coat.

"Where we going? Back to the doc?" asked Scotty, moving his chair backwards.

"No. We're going to see the girl Bennett was supposedly with the night Paige was killed. Jane Something."

* * *

Pulling up to a low house with white siding, it was evident Jane Pringle, once Jefferson High's head cheerleader, was continuing to leave a comfortable life in one of Philadelphia's most exclusive neighbourhoods. A background check had revealed Jane had created a successful bridal shop in downtown Philadelphia, with another location slated to open in New York City within the next few weeks.

"Wanna do the honours?" asked Lilly as she and Scotty climbed the one small step leading to Jane's solid oak door.

Wrapping his knuckles loudly on the door, Scotty shot Lilly a cocky smirk. He had drowned back some stale coffee from Homicide's break area and was already beginning to feel more confident as the day continued to unfold. Scotty was a great police officer and he knew he was going to be the best detective Philly Homicide had ever had. Now all that remained was proving it and sweeping the gorgeous woman next to him off her feet.

Still the svelte weight she had been in high school, a tall woman with dark auburn hair answered Scotty's knock. "Yes, can I help you?"

"You Jane Pringle?" Scotty demanded, crossing his arms.

"Yes. Why do you want to know?" asked Jane wearily, taking a step back from Scotty's fiery gaze.

 _Geesh, Scotty! Don't alienate our witness before we're even in the door._ "Detectives Rush and Valens, Philly Homicide," explained Lilly, flashing her ID badge.

The tense look in Jane's faced eased and she opened her door a bit wider. "Okay. How can I help you?" asked Jane, gesturing for Scotty and Lilly to enter the house.

"We have some questions about Bennett Cahill," said Lilly as she strode past Jane, admiring the opulent furnishings of the living room they began to head into.

For a moment, a startled look crossed Jane's face before it was replaced by one of confusion. "Did something happen to him?"

"Nah, alive and kicking," Scotty shot back as he took a seat in one of Jane's green velvet armchairs.

 _Classy, Scotty._ Turning to Jane before her frustrations with Scotty began to crack her veneer of professionalism, Lilly refocused her attention on Jane. "He was your high school boyfriend, right?"

A tight smile forming across her face, Jane nodded. "All four years."

"Pretty serious then," said Scotty, reaching into his pocket for his notebook and beginning to write in a scrawl decipherable only to himself.

"Very," Jane confirmed, taking a seat on a plush green loveseat. "But then we went to different colleges, lost touch…age old story, right?"

Lilly permitted herself a small chuckle. "Either of you date anyone else in high school?"

Jane shook her head. "No, not at all. We were together the entire time."

"So…there wasn't a girl named Paige Pratt in your lives?" asked Scotty, flashing a snapshot of Paige in Jane's direction.

Jane's eyebrows knitted together, her gaze drawn to the photo like a bee to nectar.

 _Good, Scotty, if a bit forceful._ "She went to Cresbie High, ran track," said Lilly as Jane continued to study Paige's picture intently. "Like Bennett did."

"I…know who you're talking about," replied Jane, pulling herself away from the picture. "Because of what happened to her being all over the news. But we didn't know her."

 _Sure you didn't._ Scotty scoffed as he put Paige's picture back in the top pocket of his suit jacket. "You and Bennett did everything together, huh? Even knew all the same people?"

Jane gave Scotty an icy glare, softening her gaze as she turned back to Lilly. "Why are you two asking about this? Someone was _convicted_ of that crime."

Lilly shook her head. "He's been _unconvicted."_

Jane swallowed and her complexion paled noticeably. "But what do you want from me?"

Lilly pursed her lips together as she carefully considered her next question. "I don't suppose you remember what you were doing June 20th, 1981?"

"Course she doesn't," Scotty mumbled under his breath, an arrogant grin plastered across his face until Jane returned a satisfied smirk of her own towards the two detectives.

"Actually, I remember exactly what I was doing that night and I'm sure Bennett will confirm it if need be. I know that for a good reason."

Lilly and Scotty exchanged surprised glances.

Jane let a few moments of silence pass to let the weight of her words seep into the two detectives. "You see, that night was the night me and Bennett did it."

"Did what?" asked Scotty.

At that moment, Lilly slipped her hands underneath her bottom, mustering all her willpower to keep from slapping Scotty across the face. _God, men can be so dense!_

Jane had to put a hand across her mouth to keep from bursting into laughter. "That was the night we took each other's virginity. Me and Bennett were both nervous and we both questioned each other to make sure we were ready. But it was a short conversation. We both knew the time was right if we wanted to take things in our relationship to the next level."

Lilly smiled. "Your first time. That's sweet. Was it Bennett's first time too?"

"Yeah," said Jane. "We were devoted to each other."

"So that's a yes?" demanded Scotty.

It was Lilly and Jane's turn to exchange glances as colour filled both of their light complexions. "That's a yes," confirmed Jane.

"You ain't covering for Bennett all this time later, are you Janie?" Scotty persisted. Something in the way Jane's hands were tensing just didn't sit right with him.

"I have no need to," said Jane, her eyes beginning to cloud. "Bennett Cahill was an angel."

* * *

"Angel!" Scotty scoffed as he slid his gun into one of Homicides small gray lockers. "Yeesh!"

Lilly had to smile at that. Stiff and formal and without an ounce of sympathy towards former classmate Will, Lilly doubted Bennett's concern for other people extended much than his himself. "Anyways, you wanna type up Jane's interview so the rest of us can actually read it?" Even after turning Scotty's notebook in various directions, Lilly hadn't been able to make sense of a single word.

"Sure," said Scotty, trying to sound eager. Of all the stuff he was tasked with as a cop, the mounds of paperwork had to be the worst part of the job.

"Good. But while you're at it, you gotta redo Clarkson's interview," replied Lilly, beginning to put away her own gun.

Scotty turned around instead of heading for his desk. "What do you mean?"

"You wrote the interview in the third person. It's gotta be in their words. You know, first person?"

"Okay," Scotty said grudgingly as Lilly headed over to join Jefferies and Vera, whom were clustered around a pile of high school yearbooks. _Ain't like you guys told me that! Why can't all the stations just be the same?_

Flicking on his computer screen, Scotty began searching for the Clarkson interview file, a scowl across his face. Spending long nights alone in his apartment, Scotty had begun to question his sanity when the shadows had seemed to turn to people, his dreams full of nothing but Elisa screaming before her dark clad body smashed into a sheet of ice the coroner had surmised had killed her instantly. Now he questioned it as he wondered just what it was that had made him attracted to the nagging bitch that never seemed to find right with anything he did.

But as Lilly slid back into the desk beside him, her blonde hair struggling to stay in its neat bun as she laughed and joked with Stillman ceased all his reservations. Bitchiness and nagging were only a small part of what symbolized Lilly Rush. There was that wicked sense of humour and quick wit he was beginning to realize Lilly had and some of the best looks he had ever seen in a woman he had worked with. Just why hadn't Lilly gone into modelling or some field where that asset would have made life a whole lot easier for her? Maybe, if Scotty could just work up the courage to pursue his feelings, Lilly would tell him…

* * *

"Valens!"

"Huh?" mumbled Scotty, coming out of his daydream of cuddling Lilly in a movie theatre with a start.

"You've been staring blankly at that computer screen for twenty minutes. Done your interviews already?" Lilly demanded, her tone sharp.

Scotty flushed and hung his head. "Not exactly."

"Then get cracking!"

His face redder than a Valentine's heart, Scotty's gaze drifted to his keyboard as he began to hunt and peck for the right keys. Even after a decade on the force, he still preferred longhand to typing, but had doggedly kept at it ever since the time his brother's new puppy had chewed up his notebook and the almost illegible photocopies he had in their place had almost been thrown out by the court for illegibility.

Hearing Scotty's computer keys begin to click and clack, Lilly strode over to the break area, hoping a Krispy Cream donut would help ease her clenching stomach. Progress was being made in the Pratt case, that was for sure and certain. But Scotty's tendency to blurt out the first thing popping into his mind threatened to unravel the chances of catching Paige's real killer.

It wasn't that Lilly didn't appreciate Scotty's insights. Despite his rookie mistakes, the reputation he had garnered from the Hammond case was clearly well deserved. But the lack of experience in handling suspects other than gangsters and drug dealers was clearly a weakness Scotty was going to have to quickly overcome if he wanted to be successful in Homicide long-term. And I'm gonna do whatever I can to make that happen, Lilly vowed as the last traces of sweet disappeared from her tongue. _I just hope Scotty understands why I'm being so hard on him._ A sigh escaped through her lips. _Tonight is a night I'm going to take Kite up on his offer of dinner and drinks._

* * *

Period!

Clicking the print button under File, Scotty loosened his tie as the printer across the office begun to hum with activity. It had taken him two hours, but both interviews were finally completed to Lilly's satisfaction.

"Much better, Scotty," said Lilly, reading over Scotty's revised Clarkson interview with approval.

"I know it's gotta be done, but I'm never gonna like paperwork," Scotty said as he unbuttoned his top shirt button. At long last, the day was crawling to a close.

"Not my favourite thing either," Lilly admitted as she began to file away Scotty's reports. "Anyway, the boss got us Burger King. Wanna join us at Vera's desk before he gobbles it all up?"

"Um, that's okay. I ain't so hungry," said Scotty, but a loud growl from his stomach quickly betrayed his words and Scotty flushed. "Um, okay, I'm a lot hungry."

"I know it's not home cooking, but sometimes grease and fat tastes great."

Scotty grinned. "That and a good stiff drink once in a while."

"Yeah, that's why we all try to go to Jones' at least once a week as a group."

Scotty began scratching his head. "Jones?"

"Tavern downtown we like to go to. You can join us tomorrow night if you want."

"How about tonight?" blurted Scotty, fiddling with the buttons on his shirt. _Hell._ He couldn't believe it. All day as he and Lilly had gone about their case, some remote region of his brain had been planning the perfect way to ask Lilly to spend some time with him outside of work. But it had been so God damned difficult when he had when he had never really asked a woman out on a date. It drove him mad Kite was able to flirt so easily and shamelessly with the woman who was quickly stealing his heart. And now he had blown it all.

"Not tonight. Vera and Jeffries have to work late on some other case," said Lilly, her voice tinged with regret. As much as she was willing to give Kite a chance, nothing beat a night out with the guys who knew her the best.

"Uh…well…how about just us then go to Jones'? You know, so I uh…don't make a fool of myself or something in front of the guys tomorrow," Scotty stammered before he lost his nerve completely.

Lilly blinked. Three days ago, Scotty had refused to let her buy him a coffee through a Starbucks drive-thru. Now he was willing to go out for drinks?

"Only if you uh…wanna of course," Scotty mumbled before bringing up a fake cough.

Lilly smiled and nodded her head. "I'll go, Scotty. It'll be a chance to get to know each other better." Grabbing her chair, Lilly wheeled herself up to Scotty and lowered her voice. "Anyways, just between you and me, Scotty, you're right about ADA Kite."

Scotty swallowed and asked, "Right about what?" even though he knew what the answer would be.

"He isn't above checking me out…or asking me out for dinner. But I'm just not in the mood for that tonight. Telling him you and me need some time to discuss this case gives me a great reason to blow him off tonight. Anyways, meet you at Vera's desk."

"Sure," said Scotty as Lilly headed away from him. Scotty tried to make sense of his swirling thoughts. Just what he and Lilly were doing tonight together was a huge question to mark. His hopes at first had been sparked, but had been dampened when Lilly confirmed them going out wasn't even a friends thing.

 _It's time to be happy._ Elisa's soft words flowed through Scotty as he began tapping one foot. What he was experiencing he had only felt for one other person. And it was a chance Scotty was not about to let slip away from his life.


	8. A Night on the Town

Tapping one foot so hard that his whole right leg vibrated, Scotty waited for Lilly to finish gabbing with the guys so they could head out to the infamous Jones' Tavern for drinks. A few desks down from his own, Lilly was still busy chomping down fries. She shot Vera a look of triumph as she snagged the last container.

Scotty's appetite had fled moments after Lilly had said yes to going out that night with him. He'd barely been able to swallow down two fries before telling the group some last minute paperwork about the Pratt case had slipped his mind. Pretending to type for a few minutes had helped distract Scotty until his hands had refused to cooperate further.

Scotty felt his face break into a smile as Lilly finally quit chatting with Jeffries about how much Vera had tested his patience that day. His smile grew broader as Lilly began to make her way over to him. Then, as a tall figure came up behind Lilly and gave her a tap on the shoulder, Scotty's stomach tied into a knot.

"Hey!" Lilly squeaked, blushing as she remembered her mouth was still full of fries.

Kite smiled as Lilly tried to hide the Burger King fries behind her back. "You didn't call me."

 _I tried, but got your voicemail three times!_ Lilly swallowed and couldn't help licking grease off her fingers. "Yeah, well, you know how it goes. I did text you."

Scotty bit his tongue and his feet become heavy blocks glued to the floor. He felt his face harden.

"Guess I'm too late to buy you dinner," said Kite, eying the remnants of Lilly's fries.

 _Not in the front of the guys!_ "I'm working on getting Harrell locked up past the…"

"Drinks, then," said Kite, brushing down his cowlick.

"What, now?!" Lilly's voice scaled up, sneaking a glance back at Scotty and feeling confused when she saw his eyes look downcast.

"Yeah," said Kite, grabbing a cold fry and popping it into his mouth. "You mind?"

"Didn't take you for a fast food type, Kite," muttered Lilly, trying to figure some way out of the mess Kite had just flung her into.

"You got me all wrong, Rush," mumbled Kite, crumbs flying out of his mouth.

 _Moron doesn't even have the decency to chew with his mouth closed!_ Scotty wheeled his chair back towards his desk. He made the pretense of looking at his computer screen. But all he could see was Lilly and think about the chance he had blown mere days before. _If only I had just gone out for coffee, maybe, just maybe…_ Then Scotty sighed. It would do little good to think _what if._ Finding someone real just wasn't meant for him. That left the strippers at the strip clubs to fulfil his physical needs.

"Um…we have to do drinks tomorrow, Kite," said Lilly suddenly, the disappointed look Scotty had shot her coming to the forefront of her mind.

Kite's mouth formed into a straight line. "What?"

"It's just Valens and I sorta made plans to talk about the Pratt case at Jones' tonight," Lilly explained in a rush. She crumbled up the cardboard fry container and threw it into a wastebasket to occupy her trembling hands. "But uh…you're uh…welcome to join us if you wanna discuss business."

Kite gave Lilly a grin that wasn't exactly friendly. He had known asking a Homicide detective out had its risks, but he hadn't anticipated just how married to her work Lilly was. "Alright, Rush. Drinks tomorrow. No excuses." With a curt wave, Kite spun on his heel and headed for the elevator.

Scotty had closed his ears to Lilly and Kite's continuing conversation and he almost hit the ceiling when Lilly gave him a light tap on the shoulder.

"Sorry, Valens," Lilly whispered, straightening her collar. "Just wondering if you're ready to head out to Jones' now?"

"I thought you and Kite made plans, so I was just gonna stay and do some work," Scotty muttered, giving Lilly a puzzled stare.

"But, like I told you before, I wanna go out for drinks with _you_ tonight," said Lilly. Then she tapped her chin thoughtfully. "But I can't blame you for thinking otherwise. Kite sort of presumes things."

"You can say that again!"

"Anyways," said Lilly, grabbing her overcoat and slipping it on. "You wanna get ready?"

 _You have no idea!_ "You bet, Lil," replied Scotty softly. Then he blushed; he still had enough thinking of his partner as Lilly, let alone the nickname the rest of the guys seemed to call her.

Lilly laughed. _'Bout time you started loosening up there, Scotty!_

* * *

The sour air enveloped Scotty and Lilly as they stepped into the dimly lit tavern. A relic from another era that came complete with an old, beat-up jukebox playing Elvis songs, Scotty at first didn't grasp the tavern's appeal. But as Scotty caught a glimpse of the memorial wall commemorating fallen police officers behind the bar, Scotty realized that the tavern's atmosphere was one that couldn't be replicated anywhere else in Philly.

"This is it," said Lilly, guiding Scotty towards a table in a back corner after they had gotten their beers. Since it was Wednesday night, the tavern was thankfully not too crowded. "I know it doesn't look like much, but this is a great place. The owner, Russell Jones, is a retired detective. He really looks after us. Especially when he realizes we've had a hard day."

"You could say today's been one of those," Scotty mumbled, taking a deep swig of his beer. The sour Guinness began to wash out some of his misery. _Crap._ What the hell was wrong with him? How could he complain at all when he had the privilege to be the sole attention of his beautiful partner?

Lilly shot Scotty a puzzled glance. "I thought we made some pretty good headway today."

 _And you've picked up on it, too!_ Scotty swallowed as he tried hard to think of an excuse for his depressed mood.

Beeeeep!

Scotty let out a groan as his cell phone began ringing the old, reliable Nokia ring. Flipping it open, Scotty slammed it shut as the number from the payphone Roxy frequented flashed across the screen.

Lilly raised an eyebrow, but continued to sip her beer. She was realizing her new partner's social life to be more and more complicated with each day that passed.

Relieved Roxy had provided the diversion he had craved, Scotty gave Lilly a sheepish grin as he fanned stale cigarette smoke out of their faces. "Just Roxy."

"The girl from your first day, right?" asked Lilly, her eyes narrowing.

"No, that's Blair."

Lilly's brain began to hurt as she tried to keep the girls from Scotty's little black book straight. "Okay, so…which one are you seeing, then?"

 _Seeing?_ Scotty began staring into the dark brown depths of his pint glass. "I don't got a girl. Roxy and Blair are contacts from the Hammonds case. I'm still looking for a guy. Couldn't tie up all the loose ends at West before I hadda come over here," Scotty explained.

 _Sounds like when they sent me over here. Notice just ain't the force's top priority._ Lilly began twisting her glass. Then she laughed.

Scotty looked up. "What so funny?"

Lilly began chasing wisps of hair out of her eyes. "Was just thinking the force did the same to me; I was still finishing up a big case when I got transferred to Homicide. And I guess I find it hard to believe you don't have a girl."

"Why's that?"

Lilly studied Scotty intently and the fiery glance in his eye made her feel like she was interrogating a suspect. "I dunno, Scotty. Guess with that Blair girl the other day I figured you were the type to always have a girl on one arm."

 _That buying her steak dinner thing. Fuck!_ Scotty felt his face go hot and was thankful the bar was dark. "Well, ya see, Blair's livin' a pretty rough life. So I've tried to help her out…sorta as a thank you, ya know?"

Lilly's joking smile softened. "That's sweet, Scotty."

Scotty felt his heart speed up a few beats. Lilly was shooting him the type of smile he hadn't seen in a very long time. The slow, blossoming smile that always captured his heart and reduced him to hopeless bondage.

Lilly's smile grew larger as she saw the hardness in Scotty's eyes soften. Though she had tried to convince herself she didn't care about some rookie she was tasked with shepherding through her cases, seeing Scotty moody and miserable throughout the day had pricked at her conscious. Lilly swallowed and wasn't sure who was more surprised over her next statement. "I'm sorry I gave you a hard time earlier about the interviews, Scotty."

Scotty's eyes widened, almost shooting Lilly a cocky smirk before realizing just how monumental Lilly apologizing to him was. "It's okay. It's just at West…we didn't write our interviews in first person."

"Well, we do in Homicide, Scotty."

Scotty swallowed the last of his beer down and let the glass hit the table with a loud thud. "Yeah, I know. I guess I just hate feeling like I ain't doing anything right."

 _That's not true!_ Lilly sighed."Homicide's got the _best_ guys, Scotty. You're not gonna be a superstar right away. But you wouldn't be here if they didn't think you have what it takes."

Scotty smiled. "Thanks!"

"No problem. I mean it, too."

Scotty felt his throat go dry. This wasn't going at all how he had planned. If he had had some sort of plan to even begin with. On dates with Elisa, everything had been spontaneous. Their random jaunts to the movies or to the Jersey Shore when their manic schedules had had openings had been some of the best adventures of Scotty's life.

But Lilly Rush wasn't Elisa Collins. Calm, reserved, and intelligent, Scotty knew he didn't have to fear about some demonic disease stalking and shattering her mind. Just what was it women like her wanted?

"You okay, Scotty? You're so quiet tonight."

Scotty rubbed his eyes. "Bit tired, I guess."

Lilly glanced at her watch and couldn't believe it was almost midnight. "Well, bar's gonna be closing pretty soon since it's a weeknight. Guess we should head out."

Scotty sighed. Going back home to an empty apartment where Elisa's phantom would tease him in dreams when she took the whim to do so didn't appeal to him. "Not sure I'm ready to head home yet. Were you serious about treating me to a coffee the other day?"

For the second time that night, Lilly felt herself blindsided by a man. "Coffee? Now?"

Scotty shrugged as he began to get to his feet. "Why not?"

A million reasons began to fly through Lilly's mind as she got up: they had to work tomorrow, her cats needed to be fed, she was sort of seeing Kite, and that she was seriously behind in the sleep department. But the doubts quickly fell silent. Late nights alone in her townhouse were getting a bit old. "I think there's a twenty-four hour Starbucks a few blocks up. My treat since you paid for the drinks here."

"Nah, I _always_ pay," said Scotty, grabbing Lilly's coat and handing it to her.

* * *

Scotty felt his head clear as he and Lilly began sipping their decaf coffees. Roasting beans and fragrant pastries were a great alternative to the tobacco smoke that had threatened to suffocate him at Jones' Tavern.

"This place is pretty nice," said Scotty, admiring the comfy couches and the café's opulent colours.

Lilly laughed. "If you've been in one Starbucks, you've been in them all!"

"Nah. You should see the one down by West. Swear in came in with the Ark!"

Lilly's brow furrowed. The allusion was familiar, but she couldn't place it so late at night. "The Ark?"

 _Thought everyone knew about Noah?_ Scotty cleared his throat. "Um…you know…Noah's Ark with two of every animal?"

Lilly felt like slapping her forehead. Of _course_ she knew about Noah's Ark, even if Sunday school had only happened once or twice during her childhood. "A bit tired myself, I guess. Didn't go to church a lot as a kid."

Scotty scoffed. "Exact opposite for me. I went like three times a week when I was an altar boy."

" _You_ were an altar boy?"

"Back in the day, yeah."

Lilly stole a sip of her drink. "Didn't realize you're Catholic."

"Well…" Scotty began, shuffling his empty coffee cup to the edge of the table. "My mom says once a Catholic, always a Catholic. She and my dad are from Cuba, so church is a big thing for them. But I haven't gone regular since getting on the force. Worked too many Sundays and got outta the habit."

Lilly sighed. She knew all too well how all-consuming the force could be on one's social life and hobbies. "I know what ya mean. Only constants I see are the guys I work with and my cats."

"You don't got a guy?" Scotty blurted out. Scotty could feel colour creeping across his cheeks and down his neck, knowing all too well Lilly was seeing every part of it. _Damn it…you've blown it now!_

Lilly chuckled. Guys being surprised she was unattached was hardly new. "Bit hard to date when I'm at the office all the time. I bet that's the same reason you don't got a girl, right?"

Scotty's face darkened and his gaze shifted to the table. "Not exactly. I was engaged for a long time."

A tempest of unease began to stir in the pit of Lilly's stomach. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

"It's okay," Scotty said roughly, feeling his heart go numb. "It's been so long that I'm kinda used to it."

"Used to what?"

Scotty picked a stray thread off his jacket and flicked it away. So much of his exterior had now been burned away it seemed useless to keep up the façade. "Used to knowing that she's dead."


	9. Warm Comfort Admist the Cold Autumn Wind

Lilly shook her head. She couldn't have heard Scotty correctly. "I must be really out of it, Scotty. I could have just sworn you just said…"

"You heard me right!" Scotty interjected sharply, loud enough that the people seated behind them turned to stare.

 _Good god._ The faint pink disappearing from her cheeks, Lilly looked more frail than ever as Scotty's words began to weigh down her heart. "Scotty…" Lilly trailed off as Scotty shot her a hard look.

 _Fuck, now look at what you've done!_ Beads of sweat began to form on Scotty's brow as he stared around the Starbucks. Every pair of eyes now seemed to be zeroing in him and Lilly. What had been a cozy space mere moments before was now narrowing and threatening to suffocate him.

Feeling his breath beginning to come out in ragged gasps, Scotty jumped to his feet. "I gotta get going," Scotty mumbled in Lilly's direction, pulling his overcoat off the leather chair he had just vacated.

Without a second glance, Scotty walked in rapid strides towards the exit. Once outside, he broke into a quick trot and escaped to the safety of the alley adjacent Starbucks. Leaning against the weathered brick wall, Scotty sunk down and began to tremble like one of the leaves the brisk fall wind was blowing past him. Not since a bitter cold day twenty months before when his Captain had sat him down to tell of what had been found that morning in the icy Schuylkill could he remember ever feeling so cold and devoid of all feeling.

* * *

The other Starbucks patrons had returned to their idle conversations before Lilly was able to process what had just had happened. From a fun a night out, things had turned so sharply Lilly was taking slow, deep breathes to ease the dizziness.

Then Lilly felt her wits begin to recoup as she grabbed her jacket and satchel. Her heart beating like a jackhammer, every instinct screamed to search the streets until she found Scotty. As little as she knew about the man that was now her partner, he _needed_ her and what little comfort she was able to provide.

Gasping as a sharp wind whipped strands of hair backwards, Lilly looked up and down the crowded street for Scotty. Lilly's hands began to tremble like the few remaining leaves on the branch above her head when she didn't immediately spot Scotty.

_Come on, Lilly! Get it together! If you were trying to run away from something you didn't want to confront, where would you go?_

Almost instantly, Lilly was swept back to the time she had raced away from the bachelorette party her mother-in-law had been hosting for her. At least, the woman who was _supposed_ to have become her mother-in-law. That night, whilst escaping from the catcalls and whistles her friends were directing towards the strippers they had hired, Lilly had stolen upstairs to gather her thoughts about the big step she would be taking in the morning.

But Lilly had quickly found herself racing downstairs and into the nearest alley across from the new development of row homes. Even after seven years, the image of her fiancé in bed with her sister Christina was an image forever scorched into her retinas.

_Alone and crying in the alley without anyone giving a… oh, God! I know where he is!_

* * *

Shivering, Scotty brought up the lapels of his overcoat up to his chin. The brisk autumn wind had chilled him so thoroughly he scarcely felt the feather light tap on his shoulder.

"Scotty?"

The soft whisper filtering in like a beam of light through a shuddered window, Scotty stirred to life. His mouth become bone dry and he could barely swallow the grit as Lilly's soft features came into his vision.

Lilly kneeled down and slipped one slender paw into Scotty's large palm. "Are you alright?"

Suddenly aware of the magnitude of what he had let slip to Lilly, Scotty ducked his head. _Why the hell did I do that?!_ Scotty took a deep, shuddering breath as he tried to stand up.

"Here, Scotty. Let me."

Realizing Lilly had already gotten to her feet, Scotty clasped the outstretched hand gratefully. Once upright, Scotty kept his gaze cast down to the cracked pavement. Scotty could feel every pebble of strewn gravel poking through his thick rubber soles.

 _Now what I do?_ Lilly bit the inside of her lip; she was uncertain of what the next step should be. Until the age of eighteen, when she had left the broken home she had grown up in, Lilly had been used to looking out for others. With her father long gone and her mother often blacked out on the couch from one alcoholic beverage or another, it had fallen on her to make sure she and her sister got fed. She had gotten adept at snatching meagre amounts of change from her mother's purse; a couple ratty dollars for one beer had been enough in those days to pay for a meal at McDonalds that could be split amongst the three of them.

Once out on her own, Lilly had found herself (with the exception of her two cats) the sole focus of her life. She could let _nothing_ compromise her childhood dream of becoming a police officer, even if it meant shooting down any opportunities towards romance that arose from the job. Work and love simply would not mix.

But now, in the brief wounded glances Scotty was shooting towards her, all of Lilly's resolutions began to unravel. In her quest to make everyone she encountered see her as polished and professional, Lilly had adapted a personality what Christina had scornfully dubbed "The Ice Maiden." Seemingly immune to any and all feeling, the other officers around Lilly admired the cool, even demeanour that shattered all preconceived notions of how capable a woman was of handling police work.

Almost terrified at the emotion beginning to flood through her, Lilly found herself doing something she had long hoped to accomplish: shutting off the logical part of her mind. Racing and insistent, the contraption often refused to quiet until late at night. For once, something else was directing her arm around Scotty's shoulders and pulling him towards her.

Wordlessly, Scotty put an arm behind Lilly's back and let her rest against his chest. _God._ Scotty took a deep breath and was comforted by the delicate scent of Ivory soap. It had been so long since he had really _held_ a woman he had assumed he had forgotten how. In the few dates he had attempted since Elisa's death, every movement, word, and gesture had been as mechanical and methodical as a crime scene investigation. It had meant nothing. Now with Lilly's soft, warm breath blowing against his cheek, every stroke of his finger against her back meant everything.

"I don't know about you, Scotty," Lilly whispered, bits of her words scattering with the wind, "but I don't want to spend the whole night freezing in this filthy alley."

Taking a deep breath, Scotty bobbed his head up and down, hoping Lilly would understand his meaning when his chin hit her shoulder.

Reluctant to break their embrace, Lilly backed up to face Scotty. The fires of grief burning in his eyes tormented her. "Want to head back inside and warm up?"

Scotty shook his head. "I ain't going back in there. I can't be around people like this."

Nodding in agreement, Lilly began to think of another solution. When she had realized her engagement was shattering, the last place she had wanted to be was in a crowded house full of people that were almost strangers. "There's a park about a block from here. It's not much, but no one goes there this time of the night."

Scotty let out a long sigh. "Sounds good to me."

* * *

After a brief walk filled with silence, Scotty nor Lilly had shown any reaction when they had found their hands bonding together as they strained to see the dimly lit path. Recognizing the familiar outline of the wooden play structure Lilly would sometimes take her neighbour's daughter, Lilly had guided Scotty towards a hard bench.

The wooden slats hitting his back, Scotty refused to ease his grip on Lilly's hands. The wind had blown away some of the cobwebs of his brain. "I'm sorry for what happened at Starbucks. I hope you can forget it."

Lilly sighed. "Don't worry about it. The important thing is you being okay."

 _Okay? How can someone ever be okay after their whole purpose drowned and froze like a rat?_ Scotty sniffed and the cold snot blowing back into his nose made him wonder if he was catching a cold. "I'm as good as I ever am."

"Still, I'm sorry I started on that topic. I had no idea that…"

Scotty let out a loud cough that gave Lilly pause. Letting his pinky stroke Lilly's soft palm, Scotty tried to make out Lilly's eyes in the black of midnight. "Lilly, quit worrying about it. You did nothing wrong. Got that?"

"I…I know. But…I still feel I should've known there was something going on with you!"

Scotty's hand went limp and he drew it onto his lap. "How were you supposed to know about this? You had no way of knowing! Hell, I told West to keep it quiet before I transferred over so I could have a clean break!"

Lilly stared. "A clean break?"

Scotty shifted his gaze upward until it focused on the night sky above. The stars reflected back crystal clear, a sight he seldom saw in the middle of a large city. "Look, Lilly…I'm gonna tell you something that I don't ever wanna go into again. So listen good, alright?"

"I'm listening."

Scotty tried to run a hand through his hair, frustration building up inside when the immovable gel refused to bend. "After everything with Elisa, _nobody_ at West treated me the same. It was like I was damaged goods. So, I was looking forward to this new gig, and nobody knowing anything about me. I just wanted you guys to see me for the good officer I am. But hell, I've already fucked that up! I didn't want anyone here feeling sorry for me but you already do!"

Lilly felt guilt gnaw inside her; pity been just what she felt for Scotty over the last few days as she had watched the rookie detective try to learn to swim after being cast into the deep end. "It's your first week, Scotty. You haven't messed anything up!"

Scotty let out a grunt and cross his arms. "Sure I have! Remember those interviews you made me rewrite because they were in third person? That's how I was taught to write them and how we did them at West!"

Lilly gripped Scotty's hand, forcing it from his chest. "Well, in Homicide, interviews are first person, Scotty. And we have the best guys in there, too. You're not gonna be the superstar your first week!"

Scotty let out a brief, bitter chuckle. "The best guys, huh? So how'd a screw up like me wind up in there, then?"

Lilly gave an exasperated sigh. "Because you _are_ one of the best. Simple as that!"

Shrugging, Scotty began to slouch downward. "Maybe."

Following Scotty's glance to the sky above, Lilly began to think out loud as her eyes settled on Scotty's chiseled jaw. "It's funny…when I first met you, I thought you were so sure of yourself. Even over confident, if that makes any sense."

Feeling Lilly staring at him, Scotty forced himself to meet her gaze. Her china blue eyes were illuminated from the stray glows of a streetlight looming on the street behind. Sensitive and curious, but marked with shadows of disillusionment, Scotty wondered how he ever could have thought of Lilly Rush's beautiful gaze brimming with ice.

Stroking a finger along Lilly's cheek, Scotty gave Lilly a weak grin. "You're not too far off, Lil. I used to be one hell of an arrogant bastard. But when Elisa died, that part of me did, too."

Her tongue forming the words she was certain could only wound the tormented man before her, Lilly still couldn't freeze her lips and the words escaped. "How did she die, Scotty?"

Scotty blinked hard to keep the tears from squeezing out. "It got to be too much for her. I tried my best to save her from them. But my best just wasn't good enough!"


	10. Seeking Shelter

_God!_ Scotty began to shiver, his teeth to chatter as his last shouted word caught the tail end of the brisk autumn wind swirling between him and Lilly. Before he could even fathom what he had said, his admission suddenly was suddenly as still as the crunchy, brown leaves on the pavement beneath his feet.

Scotty's hands seeming to transform into ice blocks, Lilly almost wriggled her fingers away. Someone, or _something,_ had slipped from beneath Scotty's overcoat and was now trying to wrestle its way between the partners with all the might it could muster. Sinister memories had been released by Scotty's tongue, but Lilly hesitated to seek further clues to Scotty's heartache.

His lips almost twisting into a smile, Scotty welcomed the numbness beginning to wash over him. The gnawing demon that had chewed away at his heart since Alyssa's passing seldom escaped from his body unless he was in the adrenalin rush of a car race or pursing a perpetrator.

_Pow!_

Not knowing what invisible force she was trying to keep away from Scotty, Lilly clenched Scotty's hands tightly, bare skin on skin. For the first time that week, Lilly was grateful she had still not found the leather gloves that one of her cats had hidden in some dark corner of her house.

Warmth burning through his hands and up his arms, Scotty had to clench his teeth to keep himself from telling Lilly to ease her grip so her fingernails wouldn't draw blood from work scarred forearms. Even as the agony from his wrists increased, Scotty longed for Lilly to never let go.

"God," Scotty said at last, "it's so cold out here I swear my nuts are turning into..." Flushing, Scotty bit his tongue. _What the hell did you say something like that for?!_

A sharp wind biting through her thin skin, Lilly released her hands from Scotty and forced her mouth into a firm line so she wouldn't groan. "I was pretty much thinking the same thing, except…never mind!"

A bit of Scotty's arrogance surged forth and lit his eyes like burning coals as he managed to give Lilly a cocky smirk. "Yeah, maybe to prevent that we should head back to Headquarters where there's central heat."

Drawing her limbs inward, Lilly almost broke into a full grin as she tried to discern whether Scotty's words were a double entendre. _I'm not that married to the job!_ "I was thinking more like going home!"

Straining, Scotty managed to catch a glimpse of his Timex in the dim streetlight highlighting him and Lilly in ghostly silhouette: 12:04 am. "Whoa! I can't believe how late it is!"

"What time is it?"

"Past midnight!"

Lilly cocked an eyebrow. "That's not late! Don't you remember how late we stayed last night?!"

Hunching forward, Scotty put his face in his hands. "Lil, I'm so tired right now I can't even remember what day of the week it is!"

Lilly's surprise subsided as memories stirred. "Yeah, I get that. That's how it was my first week on the squad, too. I didn't think we did much, but I'd be so shot at the end of it all I still don't know how I got home without falling asleep at the wheel."

"Guess I'm about to try that adventure," remarked Scotty drily, getting to his feet stiffly.

"What part of the city do you live in, anyways?"

Scotty puffed the tops of his fingertips in an attempt to warm them. "Just outside Germantown. Never thought I'd end up living out that way, but I got a good deal on an apartment over there since the building's been pretty much torn apart the past year."

Lilly shook her head. "That's miles away! You'd have to head back to Headquarters to get your car and…let's just go to my place and you can stay there for the night. It's not far and I've got a couch you can sleep on."

Scotty raised his eyebrows, wondering how many more times this date would go sideways and upside down. "How far is your place?"

"Just a couple blocks from the corner once we get out of this place."

* * *

Forced to pull their collars up over the mouths, the icy wind made conversation impossible as Scotty and Lilly drifted through the renovated row homes of the streets leading to Lilly's block. Both were so chilled they scarcely noticed themselves walking arm in arm.

* * *

"God, that's better," Scotty muttered, collapsing onto one of Lilly's overstuffed brown couches. Just when he thought they would never reach Lilly's house she had finally guided him into one of townhouses.

"Agreed," said Lilly, unbuttoning her coat and hanging it up.

Scotty wrestled off his own coat and loosened his tie. He tried to fight off sleep. Catching glimpses of the soft blue hues accenting the neutral colours of the furniture, paintings of Picasso livened up the room. _Much like Lil that guy. I'm still trying to figure out just what she is let alone just what we are._

"Mew! Mew!"

Looking up, Scotty watched amused as two slender felines waltzed into the room, weaving themselves between Lilly's legs. Somehow falling for another cat lover didn't surprise him.

"Ssh! Just a sec, girls!" Lilly chastised, putting a finger to her lips. Throwing a sheepish grin in Scotty's direction, Lilly managed to say, "I'll just be a sec!" before the hunger meows drowned out her soft voice completely.

"Sure," said Scotty, sinking back into the couch and glad that the buzzing can opener was keeping him alert.

"Whew!" Lilly whispered as the two cats dove for their shared bowl, tussling to get their even division of tuna. Wandering back into the living room, Lilly collapsed beside Scotty without a word.

The old, grating furnace the only sound in the room, Scotty searched through his thoughts for something to talk about. "So, what are your cats' names?"

Lilly smiled; the men she had dated in the past had only been semi-tolerant of her cats and the odds were Scotty would be no different. _But…he's trying!_ "The orange one is Olivia and the white one is Tabby."

"Tabby?"

With a slight smile, Lilly cocked her head. "Short for Tabitha."

Scotty's eyes went skywards; the only time he'd ever heard that name had been of a nun who had made him stay inside countless recesses until he had finally learned long division. "Where on earth did you come up with a name like that?"

Lilly shrugged. "The shelter named her that and I was gonna change it, but I just go used to it after I gave her the nickname. You see it's better to call a cat by a name that has an _e_ sound on the end. They're more likely to listen to you then."

"Cats actually listen to orders? Since when?"

Giggling, Lilly shook her head. "Emphasis on _more likely_ , Scotty.

Scotty nodded; it sort of made sense to him. "Interesting."

Lilly rolled her eyes. _They say men hide their emotions even when it's written across their face plain as day!_ "We can always talk about something more exciting if you're bored, Scotty."

Scotty bit his lip, feeling almost as if he and Lilly had drifted back in time to their first awkward day together. _Damn, what'd I say to ruin the mood?_ "Sorry," Scotty mumbled, untying his tie and pulling it off.

 _Huh?_ "Sorry for what? You didn't do anything!"

Balling up a fist, Scotty tried to fight the words leaping out his mouth. "I…I'm sorry for saying the wrong thing. It's just it's been a long time since I've just talked one on one with anyone about stuff that hasn't revolved around work or racing or sports or anything that doesn't have to do with Alyssa!"

 _Not again._ Lilly had to resist the temptation to give herself a thump across the forehead. The ice queen mentality she adopted at work had a tendency to slip out at the wrong time in times of shot nerves and often backfired on her as a consequence. "You've got nothing to worry about, Scotty. _I'm_ the one who should be sorry…you went and spilled your guts to me at the park and I didn't even say anything back! It's just…I didn't know _what_ to say and didn't want to chance making things worse!"

 _Make things worse? Impossible!_ Scotty shrugged, his emotions flicking off. "It's fine. Nobody ever knows what to say when they hear about Alyssa. At least you don't pretend to know what to say when you really don't, Lil. I can work with that. You also actually give a shit about the whole thing and listened to me instead of trying to switch to another topic. So thanks for that, okay?"

Seeing Scotty's shoulders slump, Lilly wasn't sure who was more surprised when she rested her arm atop them. "It's no problem. And…I'm sure whatever happened with Alyssa to make things go the way they did…I just know you did what could for her, Scotty."

Scotty shook his head. "If I had really done that she'd not thrown herself into the Schuylkill and become another statistic of what we pull outta there each year!"

Lilly went cold.

"I…still can't believe that's what she did," Scotty whispered, hands gripped around his chin. The idea that Alyssa had thrown away God's greatest gift still felt foreign in his brain. "Because she was scared of heights and water…but…I guess when you've got a thinking disease there comes a point where nothing make sense anymore."

Feeling Scotty's body beginning to tremble beneath her arm, Lilly guided his head into her chest, wrapping her other arm across his back. "God, I'm sorry, Scotty."

Fighting off the tears trying to escape, Scotty forced himself to smile. "It's okay, Lilly. It's okay because I know she's in a better place now. Somewhere where she's happy and has somebody good who can actually take care of her and make sure she's safe and…" With a ragged gulp, Scotty ceased speaking and embraced Lilly, holding onto her with all his might.

 _God, please help me do this right._ "It's okay," Lilly whispered, trying to run her fingers through Scotty's gelled hair.

 _God._ Feelings long forgotten began to reawaken and Scotty rose to Lilly's touch.


	11. Ghosts Vanquished

With trepidation, Lilly's lithe fingers began to work themselves deftly through Scotty's thick crop of hair. As her tips reached the nape of Scotty's neck, Lilly brought her cheek alongside Scotty's. With a sigh of contentment, she relished the bristle of rough beard stubble against her soft skin.

* * *

 _God_. Scotty's nerves went into overdrive and he began to sweat profusely when Lilly brought her soft skin alongside his own. Scotty willed his hands to get off his lap and begin to reciprocate Lilly's affections. But they froze.

A different sort of though process began to spread through Scotty's brain. Every ounce and morsel of Scotty's better judgment yelled at him to get up from that couch. Screamed at him to grab his overcoat, flee into the night, and try to forget in the bottom of a warm bottle of scotch that tonight had ever happened. _You can't do this to yourself again. You know damn well what's going to happen. When you're no longer enough for her, she'll cut you loose somehow. And you're not man enough to survive that. Not again. You can't invest any more in this!  
_

But Scotty deafened his mind to the din of the demons he was used to stalking him whenever he tried come out of the protective cocoon of emotional coldness he had created for himself. Chances like this were seldom occurrences and he'd be damned if he didn't at least try.

Swallowing down the nausea trying to invade his mouth, Scotty screwed his eyes shut against the ever present images of Elisa that he knew would always haunt him in some form. He began to understand the true message Elisa had tried to convey to him only the night before in his shadowy dream; as long as she remained a ghost that he remained shackled to, neither of them would ever be set free. And the only way to accomplish that was for Scotty to simply focus on the here and now going forward. Puckering his lips, Scotty began to trail them along Lilly jawline.

* * *

With a soft sigh, Lilly closed her eyes and ignored the stares of the puzzled feline companions that had previously monopolized all of her attention on the home front. Lilly arched her head back and ran her hands over Scotty's broad shoulders. She silently cursed the thin layers of fabric that separated her fingertips from the strong, toned muscles beneath.

The heat from Lilly's body began to invade Scotty's innermost core and he began to feel he would pass out if he didn't get some cool air against his body. Despite his previous resolve, Scotty removed his lips that were now only mere millimeters away from Lilly's own.

"Just a sec, Lil," Scotty rasped. "Can you give me some room?"

Trying not to cry at the thought of previous few moments coming to a swift close, Lilly took her arms off Scotty. She leaned back against the couch. With relief, Lilly noted Scotty was simply removing his necktie and beginning to unbutton his shirt.

"I'm not sure if this old place of yours has the same problem as mine," Scotty began, continuing to unbutton his stiff shirt and expose his white undershirt. "Damn furnace doesn't work right so it's always cold as hell. I bet when winter comes the place will be a fucking ice box."

* * *

Studying the sweat almost dripping off of Scotty's face, Lilly surmised his story to be a simple ruse to avoid something. But she didn't press Scotty as to what the something was as he hauled off his shirt and scrunched it into a ball. She couldn't afford to be judge, jury, and executioner over his actions when her own thought processes were making so little sense to her. After all, so much of what she had ever been certain of had blown away during tonight's walk through the brisk autumn night.

* * *

Biting his lips a little, Scotty threw his shirt and tie to the floor. The comparatively cool air of the room began to circulate over his bare arms and the relief he felt was immense. Scotty knew that the brief reprieve that removing his clothing had brought him was almost over. Scotty almost had to force himself to make eye contact with Lilly. He was almost terrified to be alone in the room with her. Even when he was certain that he wanted every aspect of Lilly to connect with each fiber of his being.

Staring at the sturdy, muscular torso that had previously been cloaked in the costume of fall, Lilly roved her eyes over Scotty hungrily. Her fingers began to the buttons of her blouse and Lilly was thankful she had chosen to not wear a tank top that would have now only prolonged the formalities. "Can I?" Lilly asked, scrutinizing Scotty's reactions as if she were interrogating a suspect.

Seeing Lilly's pulse bounding in her neck, Scotty averted his eyes to the floor before he lost his nerve completely. He knew from the lustful gaze Lilly had given him that her question meant more than just their shirts. He understood those urges. He had been trying to slay those feelings himself almost since the first day he had met Lilly Rush. Tangled alone in his sheets at night, he had tried to pretend that the temptations emerging from the hard shell of caution he had encased himself in didn't exist. That the temptations he couldn't stop thinking just might offer the chance of a different life than the one he was leading. A better kind of life no longer shrouded in false shadows.

But that wasn't the question Lilly was alluding to.

"Sure," said Scotty, moving to remove his undershirt. Then in one quick motioned he gripped Lilly's list and frowned. "To be honest, I don't know, Lil," said Scotty quickly as he looked at the coffee table. Tabby. The carpet. Everywhere but into Lilly's eyes. "I...I'm not sure what it is we're doing here, exactly."

Lilly couldn't help but let a sardonic chuckle, reminiscent of the days she had been icy towards Scotty, escape. "Me neither."

* * *

Scotty felt his cheeks begin to burn. He brought his fiery eyes, sensitive and curious but tinged with shadows of disillusionment, to face the gaze that always looked so cool and collected. So certain of each and every move that their owner would make that day. Scotty was sick of trying to have a reason for every event that went on in his life. Tired of trying to choreograph everything into one big, elaborate production. Giving into improvisation had already brought him here instead of spending another night alone in his apartment staring at old photographs of a life that no longer had any possibility to exist.

* * *

"Do you think it's a bad thing to not know?" Scotty asked, carefully caressing one of Lilly's bare forearms. "Do you think everything is like the cases we work on that? That if you probe long enough you might just get some sort of logical answer when maybe there ain't one?"

* * *

Scotty's question made Lilly pause and do just that: try to probe for some of reason that had suddenly brought them both together. On the one hand, knowing that there was a certainty, a clear cut resolution if she only dug or researched enough was the element that had made her into a remarkable homicide detective. Having an unwritten set of rules in her head by which to live and pretend certain times in her life had never occurred had been what had enabled her to create a life as a productive adult.

But it had all come at a cost. Rigidity was the might have been the answer to Lilly's successes, but was also the cause to Lilly's most private moments being among her loneliest. Try as Olivia and Tabby might, it had always been glaringly obvious what was missing from her life. Sending the opportunity to change all that outside into the brisk fall night could only be a foolish move.

* * *

"No, I don't think we need an answer for this," Lilly whispered, wrapping her arms around Scotty. With a jolt, Lilly pulled Scotty towards her and rested her head over his firm chest. "All I know is what I want right now."

"Me too," said Scotty, slipping his hand onto Lilly's neck. With a small growl catching in his voice box, he felt Lilly's pulse reacting like crazy from his touch. Moving his hands to Lilly's hair he felt for the ponytail holder barely keeping her bun from unravelling. Within seconds, Lilly's hair unfurled over her shoulders in soft waves and Scotty let them cascade over him.

Creeping down Scotty's back, Lilly's fingers found the bottom of his undershirt and crept beneath it. Vertebrae by vertebrae, Lilly gently massaged the tense muscles along Scotty's spine. Lilly felt a prick of satisfaction as she heard Scotty's breathing and heartbeat speed up in time to her touch.

Scotty briefly wondered how it was possible Lilly's fingers, so pale and delicate when viewed in the open, could be so strong and sure when out of sight. And know everything he wanted before the desires had even a chance to formulate in his mind. With trepidation, Scotty put a hand on one of Lilly's cheeks.

Her mouth going dry, Lilly removed her head from Scotty's chest and caught his gaze head on. Gone was the earlier evidence of the memories that had placed their stranglehold on Scotty. At long last he was a man set free and the last of Lilly's resulted snapped as she lunged for Scotty's lips.

Lips colliding, Scotty almost cursed out for not timing this pivotal moment correctly. But as Lilly's lips began to explore his own, Scotty allowed his mouth to respond. The passion emulating from Lilly's lips was intense and it was all Scotty could do to stay upright and not pass out from the intense pleasure beginning to surge and boil.


	12. Somebody to Somebody

Scotty moved to undo the remaining buttons of Lilly's blouse. But nerves had overtaken every inch of his body and his fingers refused to cooperate with the commands he was yelling at them to do.

"Let me help you," Lilly gasped, pulling her lips away from Scotty almost in agony. Getting to her feet and undoing her blouse, Lilly motioned for Scotty to follow her upstairs.

Even taking the steps two at a time, Scotty struggled to keep up with Lilly's pace. He froze in the doorway of her bedroom as he watched her throw her blouse to the floor and tear off her bra.

With a seductive smile, Lilly flung herself onto the bed, the mattress creaking beneath her weight.

* * *

Chugging down the glass of water Lilly had given him after they had finished, Scotty put the cup on the table. Shivering now that the heat of passion was beginning to ebb away, he tugged his boxers back on and tucked himself beneath the bedclothes. He waited for Lilly to emerge from the shower. He had longed to join her, but had hesitated to cross too many boundaries too quickly. With a sigh, he continued to savor the night that had brought him the best sex of his life.

"Done!" Lilly called, emerging into the bedroom in a flimsy white nightie, toweling her hair dry. She smiled at the sight of Scotty hunkered down in her bed. It was still hard to believe after the initial turbulence their relationship between each other had hit things had done a one-eighty to where they now found themselves. Throwing the towel to the floor, Lilly joined Scotty in bed and checked the clock on the nightstand. 3:04 am. Ready or not, they both had to get some quick shut-eye before dealing with the morning grind.

Scotty stifled a yawn, even though the lack of sleep was fighting to make its presence known. He pulled Lilly towards him until she rested on his chest, her long hair tickling his nose. "That was amazing, Lil."

The rumble of Scotty's voice tickled Lilly's ear. "Yeah," Lilly whispered, letting the soft, slow thud of Scotty's heart lull her to sleep.

* * *

Trying to avert their gazes as they came into the office, Lilly and Scotty couldn't help but smile at each other as they prepared to continue getting answers in the Paige Pratt case. The cool autumn wind of the night previous had given to almost Indian summer and Scotty couldn't help but think that the water trickling through the gutters from the previous night's frost was a metaphor for the new beginnings his life was about to embark on. Heading to his locker, he straightened his starched collar, grateful Lilly had managed to get up early enough to wash and iron his suit for him so he looked presentable.

Moving to brush Scotty's hand, Lilly forced it away with regret as Stillman entered the room. "Morning, boss," said Lilly. "Can I go get us all coffees?"

"Morning, guys," Stillman said absently, leaning against the lockers and waiting for Lilly and Scotty to gather their stuff.

Finishing first, Scotty joined Stillman. "You look a bit distracted, boss. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," said Stillman, motioning for Lilly to join them. "There's just somebody I need you guys to talk with when you're ready to head in."

Lilly and Scotty exchanged glances. As far as both knew, the only thing going on in Paige's case Vera and Jefferies continuing to dig through Paige's old yearbooks in the hopes some sort of connection between her and Will could be forged. "Someone with more information on the Pratt case or something?" Lilly asked.

"No, it's a different case altogether," said Stillman, jamming his hands into the pockets of his grey suit jacket. "Either of you familiar with an organization called Somebody to Somebody?"

 _That name rings a bell._ Lilly tapped her chin. _Where have I heard it before?_

Scotty snapped his fingers. "Isn't that some group of people who tries to be amateur detectives and solve cases themselves?"

Stillman nodded. "More or less from what I've been able to make out. Cybersleuths I think is what they call themselves. They've got a website where they list missing persons' cases or the files of unidentified bodies, hoping to make some sort of connection between them all."

 _A bizarre side hobby, but a noble one, I guess._ Lilly pursed her lips. "And what exactly has that got to do with us?"

Stillman raised his eyebrows. "There was a call into the coroner's tip line last week. Some member of this Somebody to Somebody group thought a guy that went missing about three years ago from Boston might be a John Doe that was found here in the Schuylkill about six weeks later. The ME just finished looking at the dental records two days ago. It's a positive match for our John Doe."

"I see," said Scotty, giving Lilly a surprised glance. When he had worked at West, all sorts of conspiracy theories had poured into their switchboards, but it was very seldom they actually resulted in helping solve a case.

Stillman nodded. "The ME ruled three years ago John Doe died as a result of a homicide. Shot execution style in the back of the head. I've brought in the person who submitted that tip in case she can shed any more light on this case for us."

"Sure, boss," said Lilly. "When's she coming in?"

"She's already here and waiting for you guys to talk to her. Interrogation room 3 is the only space that's free, so I put her in there."

* * *

Sitting side by side, Scotty and Lilly stared across the table at the girl sitting before them. Chubby with blonde hair and blue eyes the girl looked more like a high school student than someone who might have helped breathe new life into a cold job.

"So," said Lilly, beginning to write across her notepad. "Your name is Melanie Fex?"

"Yes. Fex is spelled F-e-x," said Melanie, the words coming out in a torrent. Averting her gaze to her lap, Maureen began to pick at the skin on her forefinger.

"I'm Detective Rush. And this is my partner, Detective Valens," said Lilly, patting Scotty's hand and letting her own linger a few seconds longer than was necessary. "Did my boss fill you in on why you're here?"

Melanie nodded. "Yeah. He said you guys needed more information on how this all came about. But I'm not sure what else I can tell you besides what I already told the cop who took my call last week."

"Well," began Scotty, wondering just how this whole scheme worked. "Maybe you could tell us what it is you do and how you got involved with, uh…"

"Somebody to Somebody." Melanie supplied.

"Right. Somebody to Somebody. Who are you, what are they, and how'd you get tied up in all of it?"

"Well, there's really not much to tell about myself," said Melanie, wringing her hands on her striped blouse. "I'm a full-time student at Temple, taking Political Science. I work evenings as a stocker at Walmart. I've always wanted to volunteer, but my schedule makes it pretty hard as you might imagine. So the fact Somebody to Somebody let's me volunteer online on my own time for a few hours a week is great."

Lilly smiled. While the girl was clearly nervous in her unfamiliar surroundings, she was well spoken and sure of herself. Lilly began to think less and less Melanie was just some random nut. "So, how'd you get involved with all this? Was it some sort of interest for you?"

Melanie nodded. "Yes and no. I mean, I've always liked CSI and been interested in forensics and stuff. Can't really remember how I found Somebody to Somebody since it's been a few years, but when they told me they needed someone in Pennsylvania to help be a contact for law enforcement, it sounded like a good fit for me."

"So," said Lilly, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "What exactly made you think our John Doe just might be Patrick O'Neill, the guy that was missing from Boston?"

Melanie shrugged. "It was pretty much just luck. Part of my job is to research all the different missing person and John Doe cases in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts and have our webmaster add them to our website. One of our goals is that if we put these cases on our site we're helping generate leads for law enforcement by means of publicity."

"Anyways, I'd previously submitted the case information for this John Doe to our site when I came across a news article about Patrick O'Neill's disappearance. When it got to his physical description, there was a note that he had badly decayed teeth and it made me remember the John Doe case because I remember that that was noted as a distinguishing feature for him as well. And when I looked at the two cases I found that a lot of the other physical traits like weight and height matched up, so I sent it into our administration for consideration. After our organization vetted it as a good match I went ahead and called the coroner's office to submit my possible tip."

"Okay," said Lilly, continuing to down Melanie's information. "What do you mean your organization vetted your tip?"

"Well, before any of our members sends a tip into law enforcement, we have an internal panel that looks at all aspects of the cases and makes sure it's worthwhile for us to submit it," Melanie explained. "Basically, our goal is to submit the best possible case links to law enforcement so we don't waste your time."

"And then what happened?" asked Scotty, still not sure what to make of the whole Somebody to Somebody business.

Melanie scrunched her face, trying to find words to convey what had happened. "I basically got a call on my cell phone last night that a positive identification had come as a result of my match, but that the Homicide Department wanted to speak to me and get more details because this is the first time they've dealt with our organization."

"Well, I've think you've helped clear things up for the meantime," said Lilly, reaching into her breast pocket for a business card. "This is my card in case you need to contact us with any more information. If we need any more information I take that it's alright if we contact you?"

Melanie nodded, beginning to pick up her purse. "No problem. If I don't answer my phone I'm probably in class or working. But leave me a voicemail and I will make sure to return your call as soon as possible, Detective Rush."

"Can I just ask you something before you go?" asked Scotty, tugging on his tie as Melanie made her way to the doorway of the interrogation room.

"Sure."

"How the heck did you guys come up with a name like Somebody to Somebody?"

Melanie smiled. "Because all the nameless and missing people out there _are_ somebody to somebody."

* * *

"Somebody to somebody," Scotty murmured, pulling his jacket around his torso and he and Lilly entered the dank, chilly basement where the cold cases were kept. That phrase seemed oddly apt to his predicament. All he wanted was to be somebody to somebody and he hoped that somebody would continue to be Lilly Rush. While the signs of a one night fling were not present he couldn't help the doubt from making its appearance when he least wanted it to.

With confirmation that Vera and Jefferies were still trawling through Paige's yearbooks and that only parts of the John Doe case had made their way upstairs, Lilly had suggested they go into the cellar of cold case files and bring up the box.

"They're gonna send someone from Boston PD with information on the Patrick O'Neill case," Lilly explained, scanning the rows upon rows of boxes for the relevant case number.

Satisfied they were alone, save the hundreds of souls captured between their cardboard coffins, Scotty slipped his hand into Lilly's and was glad she didn't chase it away. Some of the fuel from the first of self-doubt began to dissipate. "Do you believe that tale that girl told us? That that is all she knows about this whole thing?"

Lilly nodded, giving her partner's palm a gentle caress. "I do. I mean, trying to identify bodies isn't a hobby I'd pick in-between studying and retail. But I guess it's like our job. Somebody's got to do it and care. I mean, we only got so many resources."

"True enough," said Scotty. As Lilly came upon the box housing information on their John Doe, he couldn't help but admire the pale pink blouse empathizing Lilly's curves and the subtle pink along the delicate contours of her neck. With a sigh, Scotty lowered his lips, savoring the taste of Lilly's soft skin.


	13. Trigger Point Along the River's Edge

With trepidation, Scotty began to softly nibble along Lilly's neck.

_Bang!_

As the cellar door banged open with a loud _thud_ that echoed throughout the complex, Scotty and Lilly jumped apart. Hoping their expresses were neutral, they hurried to rearrange any disorganized clothing as Vera popped into view with the gracefulness of a diving baby hippo.

"Boss wanted me to let you guys know that your Boston guy called and will be here in an hour, give or take," said Vera, cramming his hands into the pocket of the suit he had struggled to pour himself into that morning.

"Thanks," Lilly muttered, hoping she had heard correctly over the racing heartbeat pounding in her ears.

"No problem," replied Vera, taking an appraising glance of the room before letting his eyes rest on Lilly and Scotty. His face took on an amused expression when he caught the bright red faces of his coworkers. He cocked an eyebrow. "Did I interrupt something private here?"

Lilly rolled her eyes. "No."

Vera's face almost broke into a condescending grin. "If I didn't know ya better Rush I'd say you and-"

"And I think you'd better watch what you're saying!" Scotty interjected hotly, unable to stop himself from balling up a fist.

Vera snorted, beginning to work himself towards Scotty. "No need to get so hot and bothered over a little joke, Valens."

Scotty felt his fist begin to launch into a trajectory with Vera's mouth, but felt Lilly's hand grab his elbow in the nick of time.

"Hey, hey! He was just kidding, Scotty! Weren't you, Vera?" said Lilly sharply, giving Vera a knowing glare.

Vera shrugged his shoulders and began to turn around. "Yeah, yeah. Was just being a good co-worker and trying to liven things up around this joint," Vera muttered, taking a deep whiff of dust. Only the morgue is livelier than this place!"

"We appreciate it, Vera. Really!" Lilly shot back. "Tell Boss we'll be upstairs after we find and pull the box."

With a quick salute, Vera sauntered out of the basement.

Lilly let out a visible sigh of relief when she heard the metal stairs begin to groan with Vera's weight. "That was close."

Scotty let his hands relax. "You don't got to tell that to me!"

Scanning the shelf, Lilly tried to keep her tone even. "You didn't exactly help matters by overeating there!"

Scotty's mouth hardened. "Overreacting?! How? I couldn't let that giant ape find out-"

"Stop!" interrupted Lilly, letting her eyes become cold, hard blue ice. "You didn't exactly do much to give Vera any sort of doubt there, did you?!"

"I don't know what you mean!"

"Yes you do!" said Lilly in a fierce whisper. "The fact is neither of us thought much about the implications of what we're doing here!"

Scotty snorted and gave Lilly a mocking glance. "I don't care about any fucking implications!"

Lilly sighed. _Just why is it that any sort of chance at happiness comes with a mountain of what ifs?_ "But what if it matters to me?"

Scotty felt some of his anger dissipate as he caught the worry swirling around in Lilly's eyes. _Fuck._ He had done it again. Dove head first into a situation he knew he should have given a lot more forethought. _Can't you fucking gimme something for once without a whole bunch of strings being attached to it?!_

Sensing her partner was close to his breaking point, Lilly decided to play her cards like a cold job and shelve the conversation on a breakaway course for nothing good. "Forget it. Let's discuss it later. It's just Vera's a huge blabbermouth if he got wind of something and I don't wanna jeoper—well, I think you get what I'm trying to say."

Scotty signed. "I know. Later. We'll figure it out later."

Lilly nodded. Grateful for the sweet reprieve she had been granted, Lilly began scanning the shelves for the O'Neill file. As always, she cursed under her breath about the box jobs being stored in sort of logical order. But, she reminded herself. Things were beginning to improve in the sense people, excepting Vera of course, were finally beginning to learn the alphabet.

A few feet away, Scotty stood still and let Lilly rummage through the cluttered shelves. His heart felt even less into the whole cold job deal than it had felt on his first day and he struggled to come up with a convincing reason as to why. Every one of those damned boxes, even the Jane and John Does, was symbolic of somebody's son, daughter, husband, or whatever and the fact they were ancient didn't make solving them any less important. _Maybe even more important when you think about it considering how long they've been stuck down here._

"Found it!"

Scotty looked up to see Lilly struggling to pull out a white cardboard box well wedged between several others.

Giving the box a sharp pull, Lilly bit her tongue when the box refused to come free. "Think you could stop daydreaming and give me a hand here?"

"Yeah, yeah," Scotty muttered, motioning for Lilly to step aside. When she cleared the area, he gave the box one swift tug and almost let out a gasp of surprise when the box slipped out with ease. Staring up at Lilly, Scotty couldn't help but let the corners of his mouth turn into a condescending smirk. "You did have to pass the same fitness tests us guys did when you applied to get on the force, right, Lil?"

Forcing herself not to laugh out loud, Lilly put her hand on her hips. "It was stuck!"

Scotty scoffed. "Okay, okay. You softened it up real good for me. That more acceptable for you?"

 _More like the other way around._ "Whatever satisfies your tiny macho brain! Think it's about time we get familiar with this Schuylkill guy so that detective from Boston doesn't think we're total amateurs after it took one to even identify the guy!"

 _They found her floating in the Schuylkill this morning._ Scotty's face went ashen as he tried to toss away the voice of his old boss at West. "What about the Schuylkill?"

"What?! You've got to be kidding, Scotty! The _Schuylkill!_ One of the biggest rivers around these parts and the body of water our O'Neill guy just happened to be found floating in! Have you paid attention to important the morning?!"

 _I thought we and whatever it is we are or becoming was important._ With a shiver, he turned away from Lilly. But it was too late to avoid the rush of images and sounds flooding his mind. His boss at West taking him for a walk outside and trying to gently tell him where Alyssa had been found that morning. Alyssa's mother wailing into the phone and begging him to go with her and Alyssa's sister to the morgue to help make a positive ID of her remains. The overpowering aroma of roses and carnations at Alyssa's funeral before they had trekked to the cemetery and lowered her casket into the cold, barren ground.

Scotty's vacant look and the slight tremor that had overtaken once steady hands kicked Lilly out of her tirade. "Scotty? You okay?"

Staring at the concrete floor, Scotty shoved his hands into his pockets. "Yeah."

Lilly shook her head. "No it ain't. Something's bugging you and it doesn't take detectives like us to figure that out."

Slumping against a shelf, Scotty banged one of the cardboard boxes with his fist.

"Come on. Tell me. What'd I say wrong? If it was that stuff about Vera earlier-"

"No," Scotty broken in. "It ain't that." Letting out a loud sigh, he ran a hand through his hair.

"What then?"

"It's fine. Just forget it, alright?"

"No. I need to know so I don't say the wrong thing again!"

A bitter smirk twisted Scotty's lips. How in the world could he possibly make Lilly understand the power that the name of one of the city's most prominent rivers held over him without her branding him a crazy man?


	14. Society's Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos to, well, the kudos and subscriptions since the last update. Much appreciated and please feel free to voice any feedback or suggestions.

Heavy silence descended upon the musty, cavernous room. It was scarcely much time at all before one could almost make out the sound of individual dust flecks settling on the boxes that were crammed into the floor-to-ceiling metal shelves.

The longer her partner's lips remained still, the more the tension in Lilly's body became as rigid as overstrung wire. _Please, Scotty. Tell me! What was it I said?_ "Well?" she asked at last.

"Well what?"

"Are you gonna fill me in on what's happening in that head of yours or do I have to start some kind of investigation into that matter?"

Scotty glared whilst remaining silent. _It just ain't easy for me to bring up this kind of shit, Lil!_

Lilly sensed _something,_ perhaps as resistant as a stonewall, had been erected between her and her— _Just what is it we are, anyways?_ Lilly thought, scuffing her shoe absently. _Lovers? Friends with benefits—_

"It's just you're gonna think it's crazy," said Scotty suddenly.

Her train of thought abruptly snapped by the unexpected shattering of silence, Lilly struggled to gather hit wits back into a coherent jumble. "Tell me and let me the judge of that! I mean, what we've shared the past days ain't exactly standard fodder between partners. Right?"

Scotty couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "True enough that!"

The slight woman moved, intertwining her hand within her partner's before he could even contemplate rebuffing the gesture.

 _God._ Scotty felt his heart pick up a few beats. It still amazed him how he'd gotten to this point without such intimate contact from another human being. _One of the great mysteries of life that I suppose._ He had to give the dryness in his throat a hard swallow before answering, "Okay. I'll tell you what tripped me up. Provided you still want to know about it that is."

"I do. So please tell me."

"It's just it's the stupidest thing!" Scotty mumbled, shifting his gaze to the ceiling. "And there's no rhyme or reason to it all when this happens. I mean I can days, sometimes even weeks, without what happened to Elisa crossing my mind when all of a sudden-" he trailed off.

"When all of a sudden what?" Lilly prompted gently, giving her friend's hand a soft caress.

"The most random shit'll trigger the whole thing again for me!" Scotty let out a weary sigh before leaning against a metal shelf for support. "But, I guess if it matters and any good comes from it, at least now I really get it at least."

"Get what?"

"What it's like for the vics who just can't let stuff go," he explained. _Irony's a son-of-a-bitch like that!_ "Like when I first started the whole policing gig I used to think those types of people were just whiners." Scotty paused to give his quickly chapping lips a soothing lick. He almost cursed when a sting was instead his reward. "I mean, I figured back then 'Shit happens! Wipe and move on!'"

 _Astute philosophy you got there, Scotty. Maybe._ Lilly tightened her grip upon Scotty's hand. "I get where you're coming from, Scotty. Used to be the way I thought to. Only logical given the volume of shit we see and deal with day in and day out. No pun intended there by the way."

"Didn't think you did."

"But anyways. What happened just now? What triggered things for you?"

Scotty sighed, yet felt relived Lilly was brash enough to voice what had been simmering below the surface for them both. "Hearing where they found this O'Neill guy. In the Sk-the river. Elisa was found in there too, Lil." His eyes became limp, his expression blank. "Some guy out walking ..+on a really cold morning spotted her floating between the chunks of ice his dog was swimming towards after he threw a stick out for him to fetch."

_Jesus. Why did I bring this up? What the hell was I thinking?!_

Scotty pulled off his suit jacket. "Anyways, Elisa's family was pretty—well, they weren't in any sort of shape to do the identifying bit so I offered to do it." He began to tremble and it was a wonder he didn't lose his balance and topple to the concrete beneath his feet. "When I was doing it I just hadda touch her. Maybe to convince myself the whole thing was real. I dunno. I think her body had to be even colder than the ice was." He stopped abruptly, the freezing pain shooting through still as the raw as it had been on the day he had first felt it.

By some means she couldn't understand, Lilly's body felt the same sharp stab. _Fuck, God! Would it really be that difficult for you to give the poor guy some sort of peace about all this? Even if just for a few minutes sometimes?_

Scotty's face remained a mask of chilly calm, but was belied by his trembling body. _Just like the trees in the wind on the day she, I mean_ we _, died._

* * *

It would later become an episode Lilly Rush's mind would never fully capture. And it always remained strange to her mind that it was so. The few minutes she had held her partner's shaking body against her own had been so intense she had justly feared that her senses would implode and bury them both.

But like during all the other pitfalls that been put before her on the Roadway of Life, Lilly had managed to stay in control and get both her and Scotty to their required destination comparatively unscathed. Exempting of course the pivotal moment. That line etched upon both their minds that marked the exact second when what could have remained a mere fling had evolved into something more. Something much, much more.

* * *

Scotty blew his nasal mucus back rather inelegantly. _Fucking Murphy's Law. The first time you actually need a Kleenex is the one day you didn't put a wad of the things into your pocket!_ he thought with irritation. He let out an audible sigh of relief when Lilly pressed a tissue into his sweaty palm. "Thanks."

"No worries."

Crumpling the soiled Kleenex into a ball, Scotty shoved the wet mess into his pocket. "Anyways, think it's 'bout time we got back to business."

Lilly nodded in agreement. "Least we still got a half hour before our Boston pal makes his grand entrance!"

"Thank goodness for that!" said Scotty, making his way over to the box they had left abandoned on the floor. "But, I don't think we'll even need ten minutes to review this thing," he murmured as he pulled out the single large envelope that was the carton's sole contents. "Looks pretty skimpy, huh?"

"Clearly," Lilly mumbled, scanning the scant pages. _Skimpy might even be too generous a term to apply to what we've got to work with here._ It certainly didn't take her long to glace over the autopsy report and its few associated photos. The rest of the case file literally consisted of the reconstruction picture and the two public pleas the Medical Examiner's office has released to the media in a futile attempt to identify the former John Doe.

"Found naked and shot in the back of the head. Facial features difficult to make out. Foul play strongly suspected," said Scotty, reading aloud the odd line here and there from the autopsy report. He arranged the dog-eared pages into a small, untidy stack. "Another John Doe in a year there were maybe two hundred, maybe even two-hundred-and-fifty other ones just like it." He sighed. "I can see how this one got shuffled down here so quick."

"A dime a dozen and not a priority, as awful as that sounds," Lilly replied, her words so brittle they were almost inaudible by the time they bounced off her partner's eardrums.

"Look, Lil, I understand where it you're trying to come from. But you've got to realize that until that until that Fex girl submitted that tip of hers we didn't even have a name for the guy! And it's kinda hard to investigate what we don't even know what it is we're supposed to be looking into." He paused, unsure if it was inappropriate as a rookie detective to make such an observation.

Lilly almost broke out laughing. _He's been in homicide not even a week and he pointed out what I should have ingrained in my forehead!_ "You're right, Scotty. What you just said is exactly how things work. Doesn't mean I gotta be thrilled about the situation being like that though."

"Wasn't trying to say you were."

"I know it, so quit looking so worried."

* * *

"And that was it? A man with a severe head injury who leaves his group home unescorted and without his medication, a person known to be violent if approached the wrong way, was not considered a high priority for you guys?" Lilly queried, giving her Boston counterpart an icy stare.

A burly man with a football player frame beginning to soften with the pudginess of middle age, Detective Roscoe gave the women seated opposite himself at the table a roll of his eyes. The furnace in the small interrogation room beginning to roast him, he mopped his brow with a coffee stained paper towel. He studied the other two detectives and was quick in concluding they were novices not yet aware of what being an investigator entailed. _But time and experience will hopefully be the cure for that!_ "Are either of you two familiar with Hyde Park? That's the borough in Boston I'm based out of."

Scotty looked to Lilly and noted the look she gave him was not a pleased one. _Stuck up prick! Where does he come off thinking neither of us knows what a missing person's case consists of? We're not_ that _new to all this!_ "Not specifically," Scotty admitted drily. "So maybe, if it's not too much trouble or anything of course, you could enlighten us?"

Seeing Roscoe furrow his forehead in response to Scotty's question, Lilly quickly covered her mouth. The boss had mentioned Roscoe was considered by several cops he knew in Boston to be top shelf. _But I guess picking up on sarcasm isn't the strongest thing of this fellow's skillset!_

"You can pretty much consider our Hyde Park the equivalent of your North Philly. Hyde Park's a rough neighbourhood where most honest folks and families have to scratch to make a living." Roscoe's benign expression quickly became a hard one. "There's not much else good I can tell you about Hyde Park. I can guarantee that rest of the people who ain't trying to scam SSI or deal drugs are hardcore mentally ill. And I'm sure you're both aware that Medicaid and the social services in general only stretch so far. There's too much misery and heartache for anyone to do much but patch them up until the next crisis. So the sad reality is I could easily come up with at least ten active missing persons on my desk right now that bear the exact same hallmarks as the O'Neill case!"

"Hate to say that I think that's a fair enough answer," Scotty admitted, giving his knuckles a loud series of cracks.

"I don't want you two to think I'm completely heartless. As often as I come across cases like Patrick's, I still felt for the guy and his family," said Roscoe.

"How's that?" asked Lilly. _Maybe, just maybe, I've branded this guy an asshole a bit too soon._

"The O'Neills are a nice family. All decent hardworking folks. Patrick just hit the crapshoot when it comes to the lottery of life."

"Lottery," Scotty echoed dumbly. _What the hell does that even mean?_ The only thing he associated with lotteries was shitloads of riches.

Roscoe sighed. "I know, I know. It's a clumsy word to apply to this situation, but I've got my reasons for choosing it. After a certain point, Patrick drew the shortest possible strew he could have picked. Not that it was always like that, mind you. He grew up in Hyde Park, but his folks pushed him to get out and he made it to Boston Latin, which is probably the best public school in all of Boston if not Massachusetts. After he graduated Patrick got married and was living the dream. Beautiful wife, three great kids, and all set to join the Navy when the shit the fan."


	15. No Gene for Fate

As Roscoe's voice fell silent, Lilly gave herself a few moments to process what she'd just heard. _Alright, this guy got a raw deal. So what?_ Roscoe was obviously a seasoned police vet; why did this particular case and its vic getting screwed by fate bother him so much? It was pretty the same theme shared between far too many cases. Fate was blind and had a badly researched list when it came to this sort of thing. Hell, _she'd_ realized that almost from the moment she'd drawn her first breath.

"So what happened to him?" asked Scotty, the quiet that had filled them room beginning to make him uncomfortable.

"Was a real bitch what happened to Patrick," Roscoe began, flinging large beads of sweat off his brow. Men like him weren't designed to be caged in small rooms. They belonged out in the field tracking down leads.

 _And can you please get on with it?_ Lilly thought, what little patience she had left almost evaporated. "And?" she prompted.

"Guys like O'Neill are a dying breed, Rush. The hardworking, devoted family guy types. Patrick was out that night because he was like that. Besides the day job he did he had a second job on the side. Doing who knows what in a frozen warehouse. All so he could get some money together to give him and his family a bit of a head start for their move down to Annapolis for his stint at the United States Naval Academy," said Roscoe, the disgust of what he was about to reveal already evident across his face.

"Anyways, it was a Friday night if I remember right. Patrick was walking home from that second job that night so his wife could have the car to pick up one of their kids from soccer practice. He did everything he was supposed to do, right down to waiting for the damned green man to pop up so he knew it was safe to cross the street. But the moment he hit the asphalt bam!" Roscoe bellowed, slamming his large palms together for emphasis.

 _Christ!_ Scotty hoped he hadn't jumped from Roscoe's sudden theatrical display. "Then what?" he asked. He prayed his face displayed masked stoicism versus one of marked irritation. This wasn't his thing, waiting around for what seemed like an eternity for results. _So different from West. Things were always hopping over there._

"Poor guy got hit by a bastard who figured it'd be a bright idea to run a red. Driver was most likely drunk. We think that was the case anyways."

Lilly's eyes narrowed with confusion. _Seems something like that should've been a pivotal point of the investigation!_ "Did I hear you right, Detective Roscoe? You _think_ the perp who hit O'Neill was drunk?"

"Yes. When I say think I mean exactly that. It was a hit-and-run job, Rush. I never caught the guy," Roscoe explained, unable to keep his anger over the whole affair from making an appearance across his lined face. So many times he'd done unpaid overtime to go through the case file, hoping maybe to find something that would allow him at long last to knock on Mrs. O'Neill's door and greet her with "We got him." "I mean, I try to be optimistic about it all. Think maybe today'll be the day I get that tip that'll close the case finally. But given it's been nineteen years so far perhaps you'll forgive me for not having much faith at this stage of the game."

 _I'll never get what causes these type of people to have this kind of luck. Is there some gene for fate they've not discovered yet?_ Her heart softening just a little bit towards Roscoe, Lilly offered him an understanding smile. It eventually happened to every good detective: enduring the case that they couldn't solve and kept them up at a night. Provided it didn't drive them crazy first. "Well, you've got my word Roscoe me and my partner here'll do our best to get Patrick justice in our case."

"And I really hope you do just that."

"There's one thing I don't get," Scotty broke in. "After this O'Neill guy got hit what happened to that fairy tale life you said he was leading before all this went down?" he asked coolly. Not that _being an insensitive ass was his sole motive. It was simply a means to distract himself from_ O'Neill's ultimate fate and the raw wounds it had reopened earlier in the morning. _After all, you're a big wig now. A head honcho. Gotta keep it together._

Roscoe felt himself beginning to come to the end of his figurative rope. The arrogant prick in front of him was far too young, and not to mention inexperienced, to be calling the shots and asking _him_ questions. "Excuse me, Detective Valentine-"

"Valens!" Scotty interjected hotly.

"My apologies, Detective _Valens_ ," the Boston man shot back. He felt his face transform to match the sneer of his so-called counterpart. "It _is_ detective, right? Or am I also mistaken when it comes to your job title?"

 _Fucking bastard! Where do you come off talking like that to me?!_ Snarky reply already in hand, Scotty's mouth opened to deliver it before a sudden pain coming from his shin put an abrupt halt to his plan.

Roscoe leaned back in alarm at seeing the other man's face go ashen and his eyes momentarily role back in his head. "Whoa, man! Are you alright there?"

"He's fine," Lilly answered. "And yes, Scotty here is a detective. He's just—new." Lilly turned and gripped her partner's shoulder tight. She hoped he'd regained enough of his senses to take the hint. "Ain't that right, Scotty? You're just new."

"Yeah," Scotty mumbled absently. He was still unsure which deserved the greater share of his attention: the throbbing from his shin or the burning from his shoulder.

Roscoe gave Lilly a look of sympathy. _The poor woman._ The journey the lady detective was about to embark on with Valens was not going to be an easy one. _And I know that from experience!_ he thought ruefully. Once upon a time he too had once been saddled with a man child for a partner. And what fun times _those_ had been.

* * *

"I don't care about what you're saying, Lil! There was no good reason for you to kick me the way you did!"

Lilly crossed her arms and shot him an icy stare in return. After Roscoe had bid them goodbye and good luck Lilly had remained seated at the table in Interrogation Room 3, giving Scotty little choice but to stay in the room with her. "Just what is it you propose I should've done instead? Let you go off on Roscoe and make an ass of yourself and the department in the process?"

Scotty glared in return. "I don't know! But you didn't have to take the side of the prick and treat me like a child!"

"There's a simple remedy for that, Scotty: don't act like a baby and I won't have to treat you like one!" She rolled her eyes when she received a snort in reply. "I mean it sounds like a good deal to me. How about to you?"

 _Sarcasm's not something you're so good at pulling off, Ice Queen!_ Scotty turned away, almost entrapped back in the mindset that had marked much of his and Lilly's first day or two together. _Feels like that was almost a damned life time ago now._ Dead and cold his job tasks might be the same certainly couldn't be said for the shifts that had been set in motion in his life.

 _Dammit._ Lilly bit her lip. She wasn't exactly thrilled either with how the whole Roscoe situation had played out. Professional and not personal was the usual motto she applied to her life and work and the manner in which she conducted them. It figured one of the few times she had violated that vow was now coming back to swiftly bite her in the ass.

 _And it's obviously best to start acting the way you should've as quickly as possible!_ "Alright, fine!" said Lilly when it became clear to even the most oblivious observer that a reply from her partner wasn't forthcoming. "We'll talk about what happened later. For now we've got two cases we should be focusing on instead anyways."

"If you say so."

"If I say so?!"

"You heard me right!" Scotty replied carelessly. He took a seat at the table and had to resist the temptation to lean back and try for a catnap. He was tired and had almost had it. Being shackled to a desk and doing reams of paperwork for hours on end was getting to him. He was rubbish at office politics. _I thought this job was about enforcing the law? That's what I'm good at. Not kissing up to some pompous ass from Boston!_

Sensing they were both about to hit a wall in regards to the subject at hand, Lilly opted to take the road she had seldom travelled in her life. The one that went against the natural direction of her soul's woodgrain: Avoidance Avenue. _Okay, promise yourself you're gonna drop the Roscoe thing. For now at least. You got one guy who was without a name for three years and another one who's maybe been sitting in jail for over two decades for a crime he didn't commit. That's what's important now. Focus on them!_

The quiet coming from the blonde made Scotty uneasy. And the poker face providing no obvious clue as to what process what occurring between the gears in her head as even more maddening when deciphering fake emotion and stories was supposed to be second nature to him. "Alright. So what next?"

"Go over the info Roscoe gave us about O'Neill and see if it leads somewhere. I mean, this is a guy who couldn't conduct his own financial affairs much less arrange some sort of travel to Philly. We've gotta figure out just how the hell he got over here."

Scotty snorted. "You call that sob story he fed us information? He provided us with nothing!"

"Yeah, I guess filling in over fifty years of the guy's life counts as nothing!"

"Pretty much! The last twenty years the guy was mowed down in that hit run he spent in that group home. Remember, Lil? That dump the state committed him to after that supposedly great wife of his packed up their kids and left him high and dry when he couldn't bring the bacon home anymore?"

Lilly shook her head. "That's not the whole story, Scotty. Patrick was beating her and screaming at their kids all the time! If you were Roxanne would you've stayed in that environment any longer than she did?"

"I don't know! I'm not a chick!"

"Well use your imagination!"

"Fine! I wasn't trying to say she should've stayed! I just meant the poor guy had already gotten screwed over than she did that to him in the bargain! O'Neill didn't exactly sound like a raging alcoholic until after that car hit by what Roscoe was saying!"

Lilly sighed. She knew damned well what her partner was inferring. "Okay, Scotty. I get your point. But no matter how you look at it both Patrick and his wife got raw deals. No ands, ifs, or buts about it!"

Getting to his feet, Scotty rubbed his temples. After everything he and Lilly had shared together in the room he'd privately christened The Case Morgue, he had a difficult time comprehending how they'd gotten to this point. To where relations between him and his partner felt as chilled as the first and second worlds had probably found them to be during the Cold War. He sighed, wondering at just what point in his life he could mark in the sand it spiralling so far beyond his control.

Lilly couldn't help but soften a bit towards Scotty's behaviour and she tried to apply hindsight to it. In his own way the poor man was also a victim of the circumstances no just person would wish inflicted upon anyone. To say this past morning had likely been torturous for him was almost the understatement of the century. "Well, I guess that's really all we can say about it, isn't it? We might as well get back to looking over all the other aspects of the case."

"Alright," said Scotty offhandedly. Their cases were destined to head straight back for the deep freeze if they kept going after them at such as a reckless pace. He began to make his way towards the exit.

"Wait a moment, Scotty."

A loud crack emitting from one knee, Scotty put his doorward bound journey on pause. _Great. What now?_

"When we were in there with Roscoe-" Lilly began, hands in pockets and eyes staring at the floor.

Scotty suppressed a groan. He'd wasted enough of his time that day over that Boston-Pain-in-the-Fucking-Ass. "Forget it."

"I just want to say I didn't mean to lose my cool."

"Really, Lil, just drop it," he mumbled testily. "I realize now I was outta line. Even though that guy _was_ getting under my skin I should've been the bigger man and kept _my_ cool. So I really should be thanking you instead of being sore at you for helping me do what I couldn't do on my own."

"Well, it's just I remembered that this wasn't exactly the easiest day for you to begin with so-"

 _Dammit! Please, Lil. The last thing I need you to do now is bring Elissa up again._ "Just forget about her."

"I'm sure you understand it's pretty hard to just up and wipe my memory clean of that subject."

"Yeah, I know it," Scotty admitted before looking at his partner hard. "But you've just gotta keep it between us. Alright?"

 _Of course!_ The instinct to feel offence began to rage. Discussing the personal details of any of her partners with any of Homicide's other members was a rare thing for Lilly to do. And even then only if the situation at hand warranted it. _He's had a rough morning, though. And still fleshing out this place in the bargain. Cut him some slack._ "I promise it's just between us, Scotty. No notes."

The relief that hit Scotty almost knocked him off his feet and onto the hard floor below. "Please don't think I said that because I can't trust you, Lil. It's just that I'm new here and it's a really nice change to be around guys who don't feel sorry for me."

 _Feel sorry for you?_ Lilly tried to surmise just what it was Scotty was trying to tell her. "I hat eto say it but, like it or not, when bad stuff happens to someone people are going to feel bad. Just tends to be human nature unless you're a psychopath who can't understand that kind of thing."

"Ain't that the truth!" Scotty remarked, almost grinning in spite of himself. "But I want you guts to respect me 'cause I'm good at what I do, not go easy on me because of everything that went down. I don't want anyone thinking I can't cut it over here because I'm damaged goods or something!"

"Dammit, Scotty! I _know_ already you're going to be great at this job! And there's a lot of other stuff you're really good at besides that too!" Lilly quickly averted her head to hide the blush creeping across her cheeks. The night before had certainly taken away the autumn's chill in more than one sense. "I mean it's not like you wanted what happened to happen, right?"

"Hell no!"

"Didn't think so!" As much as she didn't want to Lilly couldn't prevent herself from feeling the faintest twinge of pity for her partner. All the bad shit that had happened to him, to Elissa, even to her, hadn't been deserved. And she would be damned if she didn't find a way to change that destiny for Patrick.


End file.
